UC-NRLF 


B   H  5D3  1D1 


AINT  LOUIS: 


FU-TURE 


JREAT  CITY  OF  THE  WORLD. 


ILLUSTRATED   WITH  A   MAP. 


BY  L.  U.  REAVIS 


SECOND    EDITION 


Henc«forth  St.  Lodis  must  be  viewed  in  the  light  of  her  future  — her  mightiness  in  the 
empire  of  the  world  —  her  away  in  the  rule  of  states  and  nations. 


I "rr* 


<  ArjF()ir\i  \ 


ST.    LOUIS: 

PUBLISHKD   BY    ORDER   OF  THE   8T.    LOUIS    COUNTY   COURT. 

1870. 


SAINT  LOUIS 


FUTURE 


GREAT  CITY  OF  THE  WORLD. 


ILLUSTRATED    WITH   A    MAI 


BY  L.  U.  REAVIS. 


SECOND    EDITION. 


HeDcafortb  St.  Lodis  must  be  viewed  in  the  light  of  her  future  —  her  mightiness  in  tlie 
empire  of  the  world  —  her  awny  in  the  rule  of  states  and  nationn. 


''     (JAl.li'OI^MA. 

ST.     LOUIS: 
PUBLISHED    BY    ORDER   OF   THE    ST.    LOUIS    COUNTY    COURT. 
V  1870. 


f'^.vM 


Entered  according  to  act  of  Congress,  in  tlie  year  1870,  by 

L.    U.    REAVIS, 

In  the  office  of  the  Clerk  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  in  and  for  the  Eadtern 
District  of  Missouri. 


/3^0f 


MISSOURI   DEMOCRAT   PRINTING   HODSB . 


e  d  i  c  a  t  i  0  n . 


TO   JAMES  B.   EADS, 

rilK    MAN    OF    REAL   GENIUS    AJTD    MARKED    FIDELITY   TO    HIS    FRIENDS, 
THE   CITIZEN   OF   GENUINE   PATRIOTISM    AND    RAKK   PtTBLlC 
SPIRIT,   THE    MAN   WORTHY    OF    HONOR 
BECAUSE   SELF-MADE, 

TfflS  WORK, 

DEVOTED   TO   THE   FUTURE    OF    A   CITY   WHORE 

BEST   HOPE   18  IN  SUCH   MEN,    IS 

DEDICATED   BY' 

THE    AUTHOR. 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS. 


PAGK 

Prophetic  Voices  about  St.  Louis, 6 

Fac-simile  Letter  of  the  Hon.  Horace  Greeley  about  St.  Louis,      -        -        -  7 

The  Future  Great  City  —  The  Argument, 9 

The  Railway  System  of  St.  Louis, 38 

popttlation  considered,           ---. 42 

"Water  as  an  important  auxiliary  to  the  growth  of  a  great  city,  and  the 

ADVANTAGE   POSSESSED   BY    St.    LoI'IS   FOR   AN   INEXHAUSTIBLE   SUPPLY,  -  -      52 

Missouri  and  her  Eesources, 56 

The  Minerals  of  Missouri,  _--.63 

Productitk  Power  of  the  Iron  Lmterest  of  Missouri,     ------    76 

Missouri  as  a  "Wlne-producinq  State,  ---.--.-.gi 

The  CmL  and  LnausTRiAL  Mission  of  the  American  People — The  World's  Com- 
merce AND  Civilization,  and  the  tendency  of  both  toward  the  Continent 
of  North  America  and  the  Future  Great  City, 86 

America  —  Poetry, ------110 

Great  Bridge  at  St.  Louis,  a.\d  its  use,  when  completed,  to  facilitate  the 

future  growth  of  the  City,      -- Ill 

Closing  Egotism, 126 

Appendix,  -- * 129 


To  the  Honorable  the  County  Court  of  fH.  Louis  County,  State  of  Missouri  : 

Gentlemen  :  The  undersigned  respectfully  request  that  your  honorable  body  makf  an 
appropriation  for  the  publication  and  distribution  of  a  new  work  b\  Mr.  L.  U.  Reavi«,  entitU-d 
"  St.  Louis,  the  Future  Great  City  of  the  World."  Believing  that  our  city  is  just  entering  upon 
a  new  era  of  commercial  prosperity  and  material  growth,  unknown  to  her  past  history,  we  feel 
assured  that,  from  the  character  and  object  of  the  work,  it  will,  when  published  and  circulated, 
add  infinitely  more  to  the  material  interests  of  St.  Loui-;  than  the  >iu:ill  sum  required  for  its 
publication. 


Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servants. 


Geo.  Bain, 
Chas.  GresoN, 
E.  O.  Stanard, 
Geo.  p.  Plant. 
Samuel  Knox, 
"Wm.  McKee, 
John  S.  Cavender, 
Ferd.  Meter, 
A.  Sieoel, 
Thos.  Walsh, 
Jno.  Baker, 
Robert  Baker. 
L.  H.  Baker, 
Thos.  Allen, 
E.  W.  Fox, 

The  above  petition  was  presented  to  the  County  Court  i.f  St.  Louis  by  the  following  gentle- 
men, prominent  citizens  of  St.  Louis,  who  presented  themselves  as  a  committee,  asking  the 
publication  of  the  work  : 


D.  A.  .Janttary, 
Chas.  H.  Peck, 
Lee  R.  Shrtock, 
Thos.  J.  Bartholow. 
Wm.  J.  Lewis, 
C.  A.  Newcomb, 
J.  H.  Terry, 
Wm.  a.  Brawner. 
Elon  G.  Smith, 
Haskell  &  Co., 
Albert  Todd, 
Scott,  Collins  &  Co 
Geo.  Todd, 
Silas  Bent, 
Nathan  H.  Parker. 


Geo.  H.  Kea, 
Sam.  a.  Lowe, 
Josiah  Foog, 
Thos.  Hit^tington, 
Stilson  Hutchinp, 
Emil  Preetorius. 
.John  Loughton,  M.D., 
Frederick  Hill. 
John  Mennie, 
G.  W.  Dreyer, 
Henry  Shaw, 
D.  Robert  Bar<-lay, 
Capt.  James  B.  Eadk, 
W.  C.  Taylor, 
B.  R.  Bonner. 


CAPT.  JAMES  B.  EADS, 
HON.  SAMUEL  KNOX, 
GEN.  JOHN  S.  CAVENDER, 
HON.  CHAS.  GIBSON. 
CAPT.  BARTON  ABLE, 
LEEiR?SHRYOCK,  Esq., 


HON.  J.  H.  TERRY, 
HON.  JOSEPH  PULLITZKH. 
HON.  D.  ROBERT  BARCLAY. 
WM.  C.  TAYLOR,  Esq.. 
JOHN  JACKSON,  E.sq. 


The   committee,  having  made  their  arguments  in  favor  of  the  publication  of  the  work,  the 
Court  voted  as"follows|: 

.FUDGE  F.  W.  CRONENBOLD.  in  the  Chair,  voted  aye. 

JOHN  F.  LONG  "  " 

THOiLA.S  J.  DAILY  "  " 

JAMES  S.  FARRAR  "  " 

ROBERT  C.  ALLEN  "  " 

THOMAS  M.  BRANNAN  "  " 

CHRISTIAN  CONRADES  "  " 

Making  a  unanimous  vote  of  the  Court  in  favor  of  the  publication,  and  ordering  ton  thousand 
copies  to  be  printed.in  English,  and  five  thousand  in  German. 


PROPHETIC  VOICES  ABOUT   ST.   LOUIS. 


St  Louis  alone  would  be  an  all-sufficient  theme;  for  who  can  doubt  that  this  prosperous  metropolis 
is  destined  to  be  one  of  the  mighty  centers  of  our  mighty  Republic? -Charles  Sumner. 

Fair  St.   Louis,  the  future  Capital  of  the  United  States,   and  of  the  civilization  of  the  Western 

Continent.  — [. J AMKS  Parton. 

New  York  Tribunk,         "» 

New  York,  February  4,  1870.    j 

Dear  Sir  :  I  have  twice  seen  St.  Louis  in  the  middle  of  winter.  Nature  made  her  the  focus  of  a  vast 
region,  embodying  a  vast  area  of  the  most  fertile  soil  on  the  globe.  Man  wUl  soon  accomplish  her  destiny 
by  rendering  her  the  seat  of  an  immense  industry,  the  home  of  a  far-reaching,  ever-expandmg  commerce. 
Her  gait  is  not  so  rapid  as  that  of  some  of  her  Western  sisters,  but  she  advances  steadily  and  surely  to  her 
predestined  station  of  first  inland  city  on  the  globe. 

Yours,  HORACE  GREELEY. 

L.  U.  Reavis,  Esq.,  Missouri. 
I  also  remember  that  I  am  in  the  city  of  St.  Louis  -  destined,  ere  long,  to  be  the  greatest  city  on  the 
continent  (renewed  cheers) ;  the  greatest  central  point  between  the  East  and  the  West,  at  once  destined  to 
be  the  entrepot  and  depot  of  all  the  internal  commerce  of  the  greatest  and  most  prosperous  country  the 
world  has  ever  seen;  connected  soon  with  India  by  the  Pacific,  and  receiving  the  goads  of  China  and 
Japan;  draining,  with  its  immense  rivers  centering  here,  the  great  Northwest,  and  opening  into  the  Gulf 
through  the  great  river  of  this  nation,  the  Father  of  Waters  — the  Mississippi.  Whenever —  and  that  time 
is  not  far  distant  — the  inteinal  commerce  shall  exceed  our  foreign  commerce,  then  shall  St.  Louis  take  the 
very  first  rank  among  the  cities  of  the  nation.  And  that  time,  my  friends,  is  much  sooner  than  any  one  of 
us  at  the  present  time  actually  realizes.  Suppose  that  it  had  been  told  to  you  —  any  one  of  you  here  present, 
of  middle  age  — within  twenty  years  past,  that  within  that  time  such  a  city  should  grow  up  here,  with 
such  a  population  as  covers  the  teeming  prairies  of  Illinois  and  Indiana,  between  this  and  the  Ohio,  who 
would  have  realized  the  prediction  ?  And  so  the  next  quarter  of  a  century  shall  see  a  larger  population 
west  of  the  Mississippi  than  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  saw  east  of  the  Mississippi  ;  and  the  city  of  St. 
Louis,  from  its  central  location,  and  through  the  vigor,  the  energy,  the  industry,  and  the  enterprise  of  its 
inhabitants,  shall  become  the  very  first  city  of  the  United  States  of  America,  now  and  hereafter  destined 
to  be  the  great  republican  nation  of  the  world.— [B^^fmcf /rom  a  speech  delivered  in  St.  Louis,  October  IS, 
1866,  by  Gen.  B.  F.  Butler. 

Now,  sir,  when  I  see  this  country,  when  I  see  its  vastness  and  its  almost  illimitable  extent ;  when  I 
see  the  keen  eye  of  capital  and  business  fastened  with  steady,  interested  gaze  upon  the  trade  of  the  West, 
and  all  our  Eastern  cities  in  hot  rivalry  are  reaching  out  their  iron  arms  to  secure  our  trade;  when  I  see 
the  railroads  that  are  centering  here  in  St.  Louis;  when  I  see  this  city,  with  60,000  miles  of  railroad 
communication  .ind  100,000  miles  of  telegraphic  communication;  when  I  see  that  she  stands  at  the  head 
waters  of  navigation,  extending  to  the  north  3,000  miles,  and  to  the  south  2,000  miles  ;  and  when  I  see 
that  she  stands  in  the  center  of  the  continent,  as  it  were;  when  I  see  the  population  moving  to  the  West  in 
vast  numbers;  when  I  see  emigration  rolling  toward  the  Pacific,  and  ail  through  these  temperate  climes 
I  hear  the  tramp  of  the  iron  horse,  on  his  way  to  the  Pacific  Ocean;  iwhen  I  see  towns  and  villages 
springing  up  in  every  direction;  when  I  see  States  forming  into  existence  until  the  city  of  St.  Louis 
becomes  the  center,  as  it  were,  of  a  hundred  States,  the  center  of  the  population  and  the  commerce  of 
this  country  — when  I  see  all  this,  sir,  I  feel  convinced  that  the  seat  of  empire  is  to  come  this  side  of 
the  Alleghanies  ;  and  why  may  not  St.  Louis  be  the  future  Capital  of  the  United  States  of  America? 
—  [Extract  Jrom  a  speech  of  Senator  Yates. 


If  it  were  asked  whose  anticipations  of  what  has  been  done  to  advance  civilization,  for  the  past  fifty 
years,  have  come  nearest  the  truth  — those  of  the  sanguine  and  hopeful,  or  those  of  the  cautious  and 
fearful— must  it  not  be  answered  that  none  of  the  former  class  had  been  sanguine  and  hopeful  enough  to 
anticipate  the  full  measure  of  human  progress  since  the  opening  of  the  present  century  '?  May  it  not  be  the 
most  sanguine  and  hopeful  only,  who,  in  anticipation,  can  attain  a  due  estimation  of  the  measure  of  future 
change  and  improvement'in  the  grand  march  of  society  and  civilization  westward  over  the  continent? 

The  general  mind  is  faithless  of  what  goes  much  beyond  its  own  experience.  It  refuses  to  receive, 
or  it  receives  with  distrust,  conclusions,  however  strongly  sustained  by  facts  and  fair  deductions,  which 
go  much  beyond  its  ordinary  range  of  thought.  It  is  especially  skeptical  and  intolerant  toward  the  avowal 
of  opinions,  however  well  founded,  which  are  sanguine  of  great  future  changes.  It  does  not  comprehend 
them,  and  therefore  refuses  to  believe;  but  it  sometimes  goes  further,  and,  without  examination,  scornfully 
rejects.  To  seek  for  the  truth  is  the  proper  object  of  those  who,  from  the  past  and  present,  undertake  to 
say  what  will  be  in  the  future,  and,  when  the  truth  is  found,  to  express  it  with  as  little  reference  to  what 
willbe  thought  of  it  as  if  putting  forth  the  solution  of  a  mathematical  problem.  — [J.  W.  Scott. 


ffiiT  0f  Die  iiviliunc. 

S^cu.fod, .^^- f^ S.2^.^. 

jU^'  ^^^'  ••    ^  L^-f-i^  Ic^ia^  ^s^^ 


,        ^^i   i>  h'   -\    n     < 


hiBii 


UNIVERSITY   OF 

ydrof 

•     CALIFOKNIA. 


1,1  !'.  li  A 
L;NJVKUSITY   .- 

ST.    LOUIS J^''^"''"'^ 

THE 

FUTUEE  GREAT  CIl^Y. 


Great  cities  grow  up  in  nations  as  the  mature  offspring  of  well-directed  civil 
rtnd  commercial  agencies,  and  in  their  natural  development  they  become  vital 
organs  in  the  world's  government  and  civilization,  performing  the  highest 
functions  of  human  life  on  the  earth.  They  grow  up  where  human  faculties 
and  natural  advantages  are  most  effective.  They  have  a  part  in  the  grand 
inarch  of  the  human  race,  peculiar  to  themselves,  in  marking  the  progress  of 
mankind  in  arts,  commerce,  and  civilization ;  and  they  embellish  history  with 
its  richest  pages  of  learning,  and  impress  on  the  mind  of  the  scholar  and  the 
student  the  profoundest  lessons  of  the  rise  and  fall  of  nations.  They  have 
formed  in  all  ages  the  great  centers  of  industrial  and  intellectual  life,  from 
which  mighty  outgrowths  of  civilization  have  expanded.  In  short,  they  are 
the  mightiest  works  of  man.  And  whether  we  view  them  wrapped  in  the 
flames  of  the  conqueror,  and  surrounded  with  millions  of  earnest  hearts,  yield- 
ing in  despair  to  the  wreck  of  fortune  and  life  at  the  fading  away  of  expiring 
glor}',  or  the  sinking  of  a  nation  into  oblivion ;  or  whether  wo  contemplate  them 
in  the  full  vigor  of  prosperity,  with  steeples  piercing  the  very  heavens,  with 
royal  palaces,  gilded  halls,  and  rich  displays  of  wealth  and  learning,  they  are 
ever  wonderful  objects  of  man's  creation,  ever  impressing  with  profoundest 
conviction  lessons  of  human  greatness  and  human  glory.  In  their  greatness 
they  have  been  able  to  wrestle  with  all  human  time.  Wo  have  only  to  go  with 
Volney  through  the  Euins  of  Empire;  to  trace  the  climbing  path  of  man,  from 
his  tirst  appearance  on  the  fields  of  history  to  the  present  day,  by  the  evidences 
we  find  along  his  pathway  in  the  ruins  of  the  groat  cities,  the  creation  of  his 
own  hands.  The  lessons  of  magnitude  and  durability  which  great  cities  teach 
may  be  more  clearly  realized  in  the  following  eloquent  passage  from  a  lecture 
of  Louis  Kossuth,  delivered  in  New  York  City  : 

"  IIow  wonderful !  What  a  present  and  what  a  future  yet !  Future  ?  Then 
let  me  stop  at  this  mysterious  word,  the  veil  of  unrevealed  eternity. 

''  The  shadow  of  that  dark  word  passed  across  my  mind,  and,  amid  the  bustio 
of  this  gigantic  bee-hive,  there  I  stood  with  meditation  alone. 

"And  the  spirit  of  the  immovable  past  rose  before  my  eyes,  unfolding  the 
picture-rolls  of  vanished  greatness,  and  of  the  fragility  of  human  things. 


10  ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE   GREAT    CITY. 

"And  among  thoir  dissolving  views  there  I  saw  the  scorched  soil  of  Africa, 
and  upon  that  soil^  Thebos,  with  its  hundred  gates,  more  splendid  than  the  most 
splendid  of  all  the  existing  cities  of  the  world — Thebes,  the  pride  of  old  Egj-pt, 
the  first  metropolis  of  arts  and  sciences,  and  the  mysterious  cradle  of  so  manv 
doctrines,  which  still  rule  mankind  in  ditTerent  shapes,  though  it  has  long  for- 
gotten their  source. 

"  There  I  saw  Syria,  with  its  hundred  cities ;  every  city  a  nation,  and  every 
nation  with  an  empire's  might.  Baalbec,  with  its  gigantic  temples,  the  very 
ruins  of  which  baffle  the  imagination  of  man,  as  they  stand  like  mountains  of 
carved  rocks  in  the  desert,  where,  for  hundreds  of  miles,  not  a  stone  is  to  be 
found,  and  no  river  flows,  offering  its  tolerant  back  to  cany  a  mountain's 
weight  upon.  And  yet  there  they  stood,  those  gigantic  ruins ;  and  as  wo 
glance  at  them  with  astonishment,  though  wo  have  mastered  the  mysteriouH 
elements  of  nature,  and  know  the  combination  of 'levers,  and  how  to  catch  the 
lightning,  and  how  to  command  the  power  of  steam  and  compressed  air,  and 
how  to  write  with  the  burning  fluid  out  of  which  the  thunderbolt  is  forged,  and 
how  to  dive  to  the  bottom  of  the  ocean,  and  how  to  rise  up  to  the  sky,  cities 
like  ]^ow  York  dwindle  to  the  modest  proportion  of  a  child's  toy,  so  that  we 
are  tempted  to  take  the  nice  little  thing  up  on  the  nail  of  our  thumb,  as  Micro- 
mcgas  did  with  the  man  of  wax. 

''  Though  we  know  all  this,  and  many  thmga  else,  still,  looking  at  tne  times 
of  Baalbec,  we  cannot  forbear  to  ask  what  people  of  giants  was  that  which 
could  do  what  neither  the  puny  eff'orts  of  our  skill,  nor  the  ravaging  hand  of 
unrelenting  time,  can  undo  through  thousands  of  years. 

"And  then  I  saw  the  dissolving  pictui'o  of  Nineveh,  with  its  ramparts  uovr 
covered  with  mountains  of  sand,  where  Layard  is  digging  up  colossal  wingcvl 
bulls,  large  as  a  mountain,  and  yet  carved  with  the  nicety  of  a  cameo ;  and 
then  Babylon,  with  its  beautiful  walls ;  and  Jerusalem,  Avith  its  unoqualed 
temples;  Tyrus,  tvith  its  countless  fleets;  Arad,  with  its  wharves ;  and  Sidon, 
with  its  labyrinth  of  work-shops  and  factories ;  and  Ascalon,  and  Gaza,  and 
Beyrout,  and,  further  off,  Poreepolis,  with  its -'world  of  palaces." 

The  first  great  cities  of  the  Avorld  were  built  by  a  race  of  men  inferior  to 
those  which  now  foi-m  the  dominant  civilization  of  the  earth,  yet  there  are 
many  ruins  of  a  mold  superior,  both  in  greatness  and  mechanical  skill,  to  those 
which  belong  to  the  cities  of  our  own  day,  as  found  in  the  marble  solitudes  of 
Palmyra  and  the  sand-buried  cities  of  Egypt.  It  is  true,  however,  that  ancient 
grandeur  grow  out  of  a  system  of  idolatry  and  serf-labor,  controlled  by  a  selfish 
despot  or  a  blind  priesthood,  which  compelled  a  useless  display  of  greatness  in 
most  public  improvements.  In  our  age,  labor  is  directed  more  by  practical 
wisdom  than  of  old,  which  creates  the  useful  more  than  the  ornamental;  hence 
we  have  the  Crystal  Palace  instead  of  the  Pyramids. 

But,  leaving  the  ancient  cities,  we  are  led  to  inquire,  "  Where  will  grow  up 
the  future  great  city  of  the  world  ?  "  At  the  very  outset  of  this  inquiry  it  is 
necessary  to  clearly  comprehend  a  few  underlj-ing  facts  connected  with  the 
cities  of  the  past  and  those  now  in  existence,  and  note  the  influence  of  the 
more  important  arts  and  sciences  that  bear  upon  man's  present  intellectual  and 


ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE   GREAT    CITY.  li 

industrial  interests,  and,  if  possible,  to  dotcrmino  the  tendency  of  tlio  world'^ 
civilization  toward  the  unfolding  future. 

The  first  great  fact  wo  meet  with  is,  that  the  inevitable  tendency  of  man 
upon  the  earth  has  been  to  make  the  circuit  of  the  globe  by  going  westward, 
within  an  isothermal  belt  of  zodiac  of  equal  temperature,  which  encircles  the 
earth  in  the  north  temperate  zone.  Within  this  belt  has  already  been  embraced 
more  than  three-fourths  of  the  world's  civilization,  and  now  about  850,000,000 
people.  It  is  along  this  belt  that  the  processions  of  nations,  in  time,  has 
moved  forward,  with  reason  and  order,  "  in  a  pre-dotormincd,  a  solemn  march, 
in  which  all  have  joined;  over  moving  and  over  rosistiessly  advancing,  encoun- 
tering and  enduring  an  inevitable  succession  of  events." 

"It  is  along  this  axis  of  the  isothermal  temperate  zone  of  the  northern 
hemisphere  that  revealed  civilization  makes  the  circuit  of  tho  globe.  Hero  the 
nontinents  expand,  tho  oceans  contract.  This  zone  contains  tho  zodiac  of 
empires.  Along  its  axis,  at  distances  scarcely  var3'ing  one  hundred  leagues, 
appear  tho  great  cities  of  tho  world,  from  Pekin  in  China  to  St.  Louis  in 
America. 

"During  antiquity  this  zodiac  was  narrow;  it  never  expanded  beyond  the 
North  African  shore,  nor  beyond  tho  Pontic  sea,  the  Danube,  and  tho  lihinc. 
Along  this  narrow  belt  civilization  planted  its  syetom,  from  oriental  Asia  to 
tho  western  extremity  of  Europe,  with  moro  or  less  perfect  development. 
Modern  times  havo  recently  seen  it  widen  to  embrace  the  region  of  tho  Baltic 
sea.  In  America  it  starts  with  tho  broad  front  from  Cuba  to  Iludson's  Uay. 
As  in  all  previous  times,  it  advances  along  a  line  central  to  those  extremes,  in 
the  densest  form,  and  with  tho  greatest  celerity.  Here  are  chief  cities  of  intel- 
ligence and  power,  the  greatest  intensity  of  energy  and  progress.  Science  has 
recently  very  perfectly  established,  by  observation,  this  axis  of  tho  isothermal 
temperate  zone.  It  reveals  to  the  world  this  shining  fact,  that  along  it  civili- 
zation has  traveled,  as  by  an  inevitable  instinct  of  nature,  since  creation's 
(lawn.  From  this  line  has  radiated  intelligence  of  mind  to  tho  North  and  to 
the  South,  and  toward  it  all  people  have  struggled  to  converge.  Thus,  in 
harmony  with  tho  supreme  order  of  nature,  is  tho  mind  of  man  instinctively 
adjusted  to  the  revolutions  of  the  sun,  and  tempered  by  its  heat." 

"  Tliri>u;:;h  the  fij^es  ono  increasing  purpose  runs,  0 

Aii'l  tlio  tlmughts  of  men  arc  wiJoncd  with  tlu*  procoss  of  tlx*  «un." 

It  is  a  noteworthy  observation  of  Dr.  Draper,  in  his  work  on  tho  Civil  War 
in  America,  that  within  a  zone  a  few  degrees  wide,  having  for  its  axis  the 
January  isothermal  line  of  fort^'-ono  degrees,  all  great  men  in  luirope  and  Asia 
have  appeared.  He  might  havo  added,  with  equal  truth,  that  within  tho  same 
zone  have  existed  all  those  great  cities  which  have  exerted  a  powerful  influence 
upon  the  world's  history,  as  centers  of  civilization  ani  intellectual  progros<<. 
The  same  inexoraI)le  but  sulttle  law  of  climate  which  makes  greatness  in  the 
individual  unattainable  to  a  temperature  hotter  or  colder  than  a  certain  golden 
mean,  afTects  in  like  manner,  with  oven  more  certainty,  the  development  of 
those   concentrations  of  the  intellect  of  man  which  wo  tind  in  great  cities. 


12  ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE    GREAT    CITY. 

If  the   temperature  is  too  cold,  the   sluggish  torpor  of  the   intellectual   and 

physical  nature  precludes  the  highest  development  j  if  the  temperature  is  too 

hot,    the   fiery   fickleness    of  nature,   which   warm   climates   produce   in   the 

individual,  is  typical  of  the  swift  and  tropical  growth,  and  sudden  and  severe 

decay   and   decline,   of    cities    exposed   to   the    same    all-powerful    influence. 

Bej'ond  that  zone  of  naoderate  temperature,  the  human  life  resembles  more 

closely  that  of  the  animal,  as  it  is  forced  to  combat  with  extremes  of  cold,  or 

to  submit  to  extremes  of  heat;  but  within  that  zone  the  highest  intellectual 

activit}'  and  culture  are  displayed.     Is  it  not,  then,  a  fact  of  no  little  import 

that  the  very  axis  of  this  zone  —  the  center  of  equilibrium  between  excess  of 

"*    heat   and  cold — the  January  isothermal  line  of  forty-one  degrees  —  passes 

^   nearer  to  the  city  of  St.  Louis  than  to  any  other  considerable  city  on  this 

V    continent  ?     Close  to  that  same  isothermal  line  lie  London,  Paris,  Eome,  Con- 

i  stantinople,  and  Pekin  ;  north  of  it  lie  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  Chicago, 

t    and  south  of  it  lies  San  Francisco.     Thus  favored  in  climate,  lying  in  the  very 

^■'.    center  of  that  belt  of  intellectual  activity  beyond  which  neither  great  man  nor 

great  cit}-  has  yet  appeared,  St.  Louis  may,  with  reason,  be  expected  to  attain 

the  highest  rank,  if  other  conditions  favor. 

A  second  underlying  fact  that  presents  itself  is  that  nearly  all  the  great 
cities  of  the  world  have  been  built  upon  rivers,  whether  in  the  inteiior  or  near 
the  ocean's  edge :  such  as  Babylon,  on  the  Euphrates  ;  Thebes,  on  the  Nile ; 
Nineveh,  on  the  Tigris;  Eome,  on  the  Tiber;  Paris,  on  the  Seine;  London,  on 
the  Thames;  New  York,  on  the  Hudson  ;  Cincinnati,  on  the  Ohio;  St.  Louis, 
^^  on  the  Mississippi;  and  Constantinople,  on  the  Bosphoi-us  ;  while  Carthage,  St. 
'    Petersburg,  and  Chicago  belong  to  interior  waters,  and  Palmyra  and  the  City 

of  Mexico  to  the  interior  country. 
5  A  third  fundamental  fact  is,  that  the  arts  and  sciences  do  more  to  develop 
interior  cities,  and  multiply  population  upon  the  interior  lands,  than  upon  the 
seaboards  or  coast  lands.  Steam  engines,  labor-saving  machines,  books,  the 
value  and  use  of  metals,  government,  the  enforcement  of  laws,  and  other  means 
of  self-protection — all  have  tended  more  to  make  the  people  of  the  interior 
more  numerous,  powerful,  and  wealthy  than  those  w4io  dwell  along  the  shores 
of  the  oceans. 

A  fourth  fundamental  fact  is,  that,  to  all  modern  civilization,  domestic  trans- 
portation by  •water  and  rail  is  more  valuable  to  nations  of  large  territorial 
extent  than  ocean  navigation.  This  fact  is  founded  not  only  upon  the  assump- 
tion that  a  nation's  interests  are  of  more  importance  to  itself  than  to  any  other 
nation,  and  it  hence  necessarily  does  more  business  at  home  than  abroad,  but 
also  upon  the  fact  that  the  exchanges  of  domestic  products  within  this  country, 
it  is  estimated,  already  exceed  in  value  six  thousand  millions  yearly,  while  the 
whole  value  of  all  foreign  exchanges  is  less  than  one  thousand  millions  a  year. 
With  every  year,  as  the  country  advances  in  population  and  industry,  its 
domestic  exchanges  gain  upon  its  foreign ;  and  those  cities,  like  New  York, 
which  much  depend  largely  upon  foreign  trade,  are  overtaken  in  the  race  for 
commercial  supremacy  by  inferior  cities  more  favorably  located  for  transacting 
the  far  greater  business  of  domestic  interchange. 


ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE    GREAT    CITY.  13 

A  fifth  fundamental  condition  upon  which  to  baso  a  high  civilization,  a  pros- 
perous, wealthy,  and  numerous  people,  who  are  destined  to  huild  great  citiep, 
is  a  country  well  adapted  by  nature  with  suitable  climate  and  resources  of  soil, 
minerals,  timbers,  water-powers,  and  navigable  advantages. 

A  sixth  and  final  fundamental  fact  is,  that  the  most  favored  and  surely  to  be 
a  prosperous,  wealthy,  and  numerous  people,  are  those  who  are  favored  in  land 
and  country  so  far  as  to  be  able  to  organize  the  producer  and  consumer,  side 
by  side,  with  full  and  equal  advantages  to  work  out  the  great  problems  of 
usefulness  in  life,  and  share  the  liberiy,  the  happiness,  and  intelligence  which 
the  w^orld  affords. 

The  growth  of  a  city  is  analogous  to  the  growth  of  a  man,  and  auxiliary  to 
our  six  fundamental  facts  are  the  throe  following  requisites  to  human  life  and 
individual  prosperity: 

I.     The  necessity  for  food. 
II.     The  necessity  for  clothing. 

III.    The  necessity  for  shelter. 

There  can  bo  no  civilized  life  without  all  of  these  requisites ;  and  as  they  are 
the  products  of  labor  and  skill,  where  they  can  bo  produced  in  the  greatest 
abundance  and  used  to  the  greatest  advantage,  and  tho  most  extensively,  will 
almost  certainly  bo  tho  placo  where  the  great  city  will  grow  up — where  our 
problem  will  be  solved.  Added  to  these  should  be  ample  facilities  for  tho 
intercommunion  of  the  people,  one  with  another,  and  for  tho  ready  exchange 
of  commodities  forming  foreign  and  domestic  commerce.  These  ma}-  be 
enumerated  as  good  roads,  railways,  and  navigable  channels,  with  attendant 
cheap  freights. 

Thus,  with  this  statement  of  fundamental  facts,  wo  are  enabled  to  proceed 
to  a  discussion  of  the  causes  in  nature  and  civilization,  which,  in  their  reei|>- 
rocal  action,  tend  to  fix  the  position  of  tho  future  groat  city  of  the  world. 

Wo  have  seen  that  the  human  race,  with  all  its  freight  of  commerce,  its  bar- 
barism and  civilization,  its  arms  and  arts,  through  pestilence  and  prosperity, 
across  seas  and  over  continents,  like  one  might}'  caravan,  has  been  moving 
forward  since  creation's  dawn,  from  tho  East  to  the  West,  with  tho  sword  and 
cross,  helmet  and  distaff,  to  the  conquest  of  tho  world  ;  and,  like  a  mighty 
array,  leaving  weakness  behind  and  organizing  power  in  tho  advance.  Ilenco, 
we  can  oasil}-  realize  that  tho  same  inevitable  cause  that  wrested  human  power 
from  the  cities  of  tho  ancients,  and  vested  it  for  a  time  in  tho  city  of  tho 
Ca?sars,  and  thence  moved  it  to  the  city  of  London,  will,  in  time,  cross  tho 
Atlantic  Ocoan,  and  bo  organized  and  represented  in  tho  future  great  city  ol" 
tho  world,  which  is  destined  to  grow  up  on  the  American  Continent;  and  that 
this  power,  wealth,  and  wisdom,  that  once  rulod  in  Troy,  Athens,  Carthago, 
and  Ivome,  and  are  now  represented  by  the  city  of  London — the  precursor  of 
tho  final  great  city — will,  in  less  than  one  hundred  years,  find  a  resting  place 
in  North  America,  and  culminate  in  the  future  great  city  which  is  destined  to 
grow  up  in  the  central  plain  of  the  Continent,  and  upon  the  great  Mississippi 
river,  whore  the  city  of  St.  Louis  now  stands. 


14  ST.    LOUIS,    THE 

In  this  westward  march  of  civilization,  wo  know  that  the  center  of  the 
world's  commerce,  which  was  once  represented  by  the  cities  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean, has  moved  westward  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  and  is  now  represented  by 
the  city  of  London.  The  tendency  is  still  westward,  and  that  London  cunuol 
remain  the  center  for  any  considerable  length  of  time  is  universally  evident. 
Human  power  is  moving  westward  with  an  irresistible  tendency,  and  is 
destined  to  be  organized  on  the  American  Continent  in  its  most  absolute  and 
gigantic  form. 

There  may  be  those  who  will  assume  that  New  York  is  to  be  the  successor 
of  London,  and  even  surpass  in  population  and  commercial  supremac}'  that 
great  city  of  the  trans-Atlantic  shore,  before  the  position  of  the  iinal  groat  city 
is  fixed.  This  is  not  possible.  Wo  have  only  to  comprehend  the  new  character 
of  our  national  industry,  and  the  diversity  of  interests  which  it  and  our  rapidly 
increasing  system  of  railways  are  establishing,  to  know  that  it  is  impossible. 
The  city  of  New  York  will  not,  in  the  future,  control  the  same  proportionate 
share  of  foreign  and  domestic  commerce  of  the  country  that  she  heretofore 
has.  New  Orleans  and  San  Francisco  will  take  some  of  the  present  valued 
trade,  and,  together  with  other  points  which  will  soon  partake  of  the  outpost 
r-ommerce,  the  trade  to  and  from  our  country  will  bo  so  divided  as  to  prevent 
New  York  from  becoming  the  rival,  much  less  the  superior,  of  London,  as  Mr. 
Scott  has  80  earnestly  contended.  Then,  in  the  westwai-d  movement  of  human 
power  and  the  center  of  the  world's  commerce,  from  the  city  of  London  to 
the  New  World,  it  is  not  possible  for  it  to  find  a  complete  and  final  resting 
])Iaee  in  any  city  of  the  Atlantic  seaboard,  but  it  will  be  compelled  to  move 
forward,  until,  in  its  complete  development,  it  will  bo  organized  and  repre- 
sented in  the  most  favored  city  in  the  central  plain  of  the  Continent.  Besides 
the  diifiision  of  our  external  commerce  through  so  many  channels  upon  our 
^■eaboard,  so  as  to  prevent  its  concentration  at  any  one  of  the  seaboard  cities, 
there  are  elements  at  work  in  the  interior  of  the  country  which  will  more 
surely  prevent  the  city  that  is  to  succeed  London  from  growing  up  on  the 
Atlantic  shore  of  our  Continent.  Every  tendency  of  our  national  progress  is 
more  and  more  to  our  continental  development — a  living  at  home,  rather  than 
going  abroad  to  distant  markets.  There  is  an  inherent  principle  lurking 
among  all  people  of  great  continental  nationality  and  resources,  which 
impresses  them  stronger  with  home  interests  than  with  external  and  distant 
lields  of  action  •  and  this  principle  is  rapidly  infusing  itself  among  the  j)ooplo 
of  these  great  valley  States  ;  therefore,  it  is  needless  to  look  into  the  future  to 
SCO  our  great  cities  on  either  seaboard  of  our  Continent,  for  they  are  not 
destined  to  be  there.  But  most  certainly  will  they  grow  up  in  the  interior, 
upon  the  lakes,  the  rivers,  and  the  Gulf;  and  among  theso  cities  of  the  interior 
we  are  to  look  for  the  future  groat  city  of  the  world — that  which  London  now 
heralds,  and  which  the  westward  tendency  of  the  world's  civilization  will  in, 
loss  than  one  hundred  years,  build  up  as  the  greatest  industrial  organism  of 
tho  human  race. 

Leaving  tho  Atlantic  seaboard  and  coming  west  of  the  Appalachian  moun- 
tains, we  at  once  enter  tho  domain  of  tho  Mississippi  Yalley,  which  comprises 


-i 


1 


ST.    LOUIS,    TUE    FUTUllc:    GREAT    CITY.  15 

i%n  area  of  2,445,000  square  miles,  and  extends  throu<^b  tliirt}'  dcirrecs  of 
longitude  and  twcnty-tlnco  degrees  of  latitude.  In  this  valley,  which  is  bliil 
new  in  its  early  development,  there  are  already  many  largo  and  flourishing 
oities,  each  expecting,  in  the  future,  to  he  greater  than  others.  First  among 
theso  stand  Chicago,  Cinciiuiati,  St.  Louis,  and  ^'ow  Orleans  —  four  cities 
doi>lined,  at  no  di>tant  day,  to  surpass,  in  wealth  and  population,  tho  four  citie< 
of  tho  Atlantic  seaboard  —  Boston,  Xow  York,  Philadelphia,  and  Baltimore. 
Assuming,  then,  that  the  future  great  city  is  to  be  in  tho  Mississippi  Valley,  wo 
are  to  ascertain  which  of  tho  four  cities  it  is  to  be,  or  whether  sorao  new  and 
more  prosperous  rival  will  present  itself  for  tho  groat  mission.  As  tho  great 
cit}^  is  to  bo  in  tho  future,  wo  must  view  it  as  tho  growth  of  tho  well-developed 
resources  of  our  country;  and,  all  things  being  considered,  it  is  but  just  to  say 
that,  inasmuch  as  it  will  bo  an  organism  of  human  power,  it  will  grow  up  in  or 
near  tho  center  of  the  productive  power  of  tho  Continent.  That  Chicago, 
Cincinnati,  St.  Louis,  and  Kew  Orleans  have  each  many  natural  advantages, 
there  can  bo  no  question.  There  is,  however,  this  difference  :  tho  area  of  sur- 
rounding habitable  country,  capable  of  ministering  to  tho  wants  and  supplying 
tho  trade  of  a  city,  is  broken,  in  the  case  of  Now  Orleans,  by  tho  Gulf  and  tho 
lakC;  and  by  regions  of  swamp ;  in  the  case  of  Chicago,  it  is  diminished 
one-third  by  tho  lake ;  while  Cincinnati  and  St.  Louis  both  have  around  them 
unbroken  and  uninterrupted  areas,  capable  of  sustaining  a  largo  population. 
Ihit  if  we  ask  to  which  of  theso  cities  belong  tho  greatest  advantages,  must 
we  not  answer,  it  is  tho  one  nearest  tho  center  of  the  productive  power  of 
tho  Continent?  Most  certainly,  for  there  will  grow  up  tho  human  power. 
And  is  not  this  center  St.  Louis  ?  Wo  have  only  to  appeal  to  facts  to  estab- 
lish tho  superior  natural  advantages  of  St.  Louis  over  any  other  city  on  tho 
Continent. 

But,  before  wo  enter  upon  a  discussion  of  tho  productive  powers  of  tho 
Continent,  let  us  look  for  ono  moment  at  tho  elements  of  human  want  upon 
which  civilization  is  founded ;  and  this  brings  us  back  to  a  consideration  of  our 
auxiliary  and  essential  requisites  to  our  six  fundamental  facts.  Under  all 
circumstances,  and  in  over}-  condition  of  life,  in  country  or  clime,  tho  first  and 
greatest  necessity  of  man  is  food  ;  and,  with  a  civilization  and  an  industry 
universally  founded  upon  the  principle  of  "for  value  rcceivoil,"  it  is  incontro- 
,  vertibly  true  that,  in  that  part  of  tho  country  whoro^jdio  juoat  food  can  be 
produced  and  supplied  at  the  cheapest  rates  to  the  consumcr.s,  there  will  l)e  an 
'.essential  requisite  to  encourage  and  sustain  a  dense  population.  Then,  without 
entering  into  a  detailed  investigation  of  the  advantages  alTordod  to  Chicago, 
Cincinnati,  and  New  Orleans,  for  obtaining  an  all-sulHcient  supply  of  cheap 
food,  wc  shall  at  once  assume  that  St.  Ijouis  is  central  to  a  better  and  grcjiter 
food-producing  area  or  country  than  either  ono  or  the  other  three  cities;  i-.nd 
that  no  man  can  disprove  the  assumption,  is  most  cortainl}-  true. 

St.  Louis  is,  substantially,  tho  geographical  center  of  this  groat  valley, 
which,  as  wo  have  already  seen,  contains  an  area  of  2,445,000  square  miles,  and 
will,  in  tho  mature  development  of  the  capacity  of  its  soil,  wield,  at  least,  the 
products  of  1,000,000  square  miles.     That  wo  may  infer,  approximately,  tho 


yL  ^U 


.3*>      <^,/M,AAA^iCXtf^A*3~>-^<^^ 


-1 


16  ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE   GREAT    CITY. 

capacity  of  tho  more  central  portions  of  this  valley  for  food  producing  pur. 
poses,  we  call  to  tho  calculation  an  estimate,  made  by  the  Agricultural  Bureau, 
of  the  cereal  products  of  the  Northwest  for  tho  next  four  decades  : 
Year.  Bushels. 

1870 '  702,200,000 

1880 1,219,520.000 

igqn 1,951,232.000 

i90o!!!!!!!!.!!iiii 3,121,970,000 

"We  consume  in  this  country  an  average  of  about  five  bushels  of  wheat  to  the 
inhabitant,  but,  if  necessary,  can  get  along  with  something  less,  as  we  have 
many  substitutes,  such  as  corn,  ryOj  and  buckwheat.  A  low  estimate  will  show 
that  our  population  will  be  in  : 

Year.  Population. 

1870 ' 42,000,000 

-1880 56,000,000 

1890 77,000,000 

1900 100,000,000 

Accordingly,  we  can  use  for  home  consumption  alone  of  wheat  in  : 

Year.  Bushels. 

1870  210,000,009 

1SS0 '.".".'.'.'.'.'.'...'. 280,000.000 

1890    385,000.000 

1900 500,000,000 

This  calculation  is  made  for  Illinois,  Missouri,  Iowa,  Wisconsin,  and  Minne- 
sota ;  and  by  taking  into  the  account  Nebraska,  Kansas,  the  Indian  Territory, 
and  Arkansas,  four  additional  States  which  naturally  belong  to  the  account  of 
this  argument,  we  at  once  swell  the  amount  of  food  for  the  next  three  decades 
to  a  sufficiency  to  supply  hundreds  of  millions  of  human  beings,  at  as  cheap 
rates  as  good  soil  and  human  skill  and  labor  can  produce  it. 

Nor  do  these  States  comprise  half  of  the  food-producing  area  of  the  Yalley 
of  the  Mississippi.     Other  large  and  fertile  States,  more  eastern,  and  southern, 
and   western  —  Indiana,   Ohio,   Kentucky,   Tennessee,   Alabama^   Mississippi, 
Louisiana,  Texas,  Kansas,  and  Nebraska — do  now,  and  will  continue  to,  con- 
tribute largely  to  the  sum  total  of  the  food  produced  in  the  Yalley  States.    And 
when  we  consider  that  less  than  one-fifth  of  tho  entire  products  of  the  whole 
\       country  in  1860  was  exported  to  foreign  countries,  thus  leaving  four-fifths  for 
.   j^A  «    exchange   in   domestic   commerce   between   the   States,  and  that  such  is  the 
tr    y  industrial  and  commercial  tendency  of  our  people  to  a  constant  proportional 
>^  ,'    increase  of  our  domestic   over   our  foreign   exchange,  we   see  an  inevitable 
tendency   in    our   people  to  concentrate  industrially   and  numerically  in  tho 
interior  of  the  Continent.     And  when  we  take  into  the  account  that  not  more 
than  eighteen  per  cent,  of  the  soil  of  the  best  States  of  this  valley  is  under 
cultivation,  Ave  are  still  more  amazed  at  the  thought  of  what  the  future  will 
produce^    when   the   whole   shall   have   been   brought   under  a  high  state  of 
improved  culture.      Then  the  food-producing  capacity  of  this  valley  will  be 
ample  to  supply  more  people  than  now  occupy  the  entire  globe,  and  with  the 
superior  advantages  of  domestic  navigation  that  St.  Louis  has  over  any  of  the 
valley  cities,  and  the  still  additional  advantages  which  she  will  have  in  railway 


ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE    GREAT    CITY.  IT 

commanications,   aud   her   proximity  to   rich   soils,   where   can  a   people    bo 
supplied  with  more  and  cheaper  food  than  hero  ?     Not  only  are  the  superior 
advantages  afforded  for  the  production  of  an  abundance  of  cheap  corn  and 
wheat  for  food,  but  also  for  the  growth  of  rye,  oats,  barley,  sugar,  and  all 
kinds  of  vegetables  and  fruits  essentially  necossarj'  for  the  wants  of  those 
who  inhabit  the  land.     In  a<ldition  to  the  food  taken  direct  from  the  soil,  8t. 
Louis  is  better  situated  than  the  other  three  cities  for  being  amply  supplied,    ^ 
at  the  lowest  possible  rates,  with  the  best  quality  of  animal  food.     Not  only     [t 
is  there  every  advantage  on   all  sides  to  bo  supplied  with  animal  food  from     ^ 
the   constantly  increasing   products   of  agricultural  districts   adjacent  to  the     rs 
city,  but  in  twenty  hours  ride  by  railway  we  reach  the  great  pastoral  region     J« 
of  our  country,  where,  in  a  few  yeai's,  cattle  and  sheep  will  swarm  over  the    |  j, 
wide  prairies  in  infinite  numbers,  where  they  are  kept  in  reserve  to  supply    s^ 
the    markets   of   the   constantly   increasing  people.      Already   the   domestic    '-S 
animals  —  quadrupeds  —  are   more   numerous   in  civilized   life  than  were  the    t 
wild  quadrupeds  among  the  aboriginal  savages  of  this  country.     In  the  year    -r^ 
18G0,  taken  together,  horses,  asses  and  mules,  oxen,  sheep  and  swine  amounted    -it 
to  more   than   one   hundred   millions,  or   more  than  three  times  the  human    V 
population  of  the  Union.    Considering  the  great  pastoral  region  of  our  country     f 
which  will,  before  many  years,  be  brought  into  use,  the  increase  of  quadru- 
peds will,  no  doubt,  bo  greater  than  that  of  man  j  at  least,  for  the  next  fifty 
years,  the  increase  on  the  pastoral  region  will  exercise  a  valuable  influence     „• 
in  aiding  to  establish  good  aud  sufficient  markets  in  the  large  cities  of  the  ^ 
Valley  States,  thus  concentrating  and  strengthening  the  power  of  the  interior     f 
people,  who  will  find  ample  food  at  all  times.      And,  in  every  view  of  the     k 
subject  of  food,  there  seems  to  be  no  question  as  to  the  advantage  St.  Louis     '^ 
will  possess  for  an  abundance  and  for  cheapness  over  the  other  three  cities,    i^ 
holding,  as  she  does,  the  nearest  relation  to  the   producer,  and  with  better    ^ 
facilities  for  obtaining  it.  X^ 

Next  to  food,  as  a  prime  necessity,  is  the  want  of  clothing.  The  principal^ ^ 
materials  out  of  which  to  make  clothing  are  wool,  cotton,  linen,  and  leather,  v 
Each  of  these  can  be  produced  cheapest  and  best  in  and  adjacent  to  the  food- 
producing  regions,  or,  at  an}-  rate,  the  wool  and  the  leather.  In  fact,  in  the 
final  ad\-ancement  and  multiplication  of  the  human  species  upon  the  planet, 
for  the  want  of  room  cotton  will  have  to  bo  abandoned,  and  only  those  animals 
and  vegetables  cultivated  that  can  serve  the  double  purpose  of  supplying  food 
and  clothing,  and  material  for  the  mechanic  arts.  This  will  compel  cattle  and 
sheep,  and  wheat  and  corn,  to  be  the  principal  food.  The  flesh  of  the  sheep 
and  the  cow  will  supply  food,  and  the  hides,  leather  and  the  wool,  clothing. 
The  grain  of  the  corn  and  the  wheat  will  also  form  food,  while  the  stalk  will 
enter  into  many  uses  in  art.  The  hog  will  finally  be  compelled  to  givo  up  the 
conflict  of  life ;  his  mission  will  bo  fulfilled,  and  man  will  require  a  more 
refined  food  for  his  more  refined  organization.  Fish  will  not  be  in  the  way  of 
man  in  his  higher  and  more  multitudinous  walk  \ipon  the  earth,  and,  conse- 
quently, will  continue  to  supply  a  valuable  portion  of  his  food.  Cotton  will, 
ere  long,  be  driven  to  an  extFome  southern  coast,  and,  finally,  gain  a  strong 


^?l;K.^^-  + 


18  ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE   GREAT    CITY. 

foothold  in  Central  America  and  other  more  extreme  southern  countries,  and, 
at  last,  yield  to  superior  demands.  But,  to  return  :  St.  Louis,  on  account  of 
the  large  area  of  rich,  and,  in  most  part,  cheap  lands,  surrounding  her  in  every 
direction,  has  equal,  if  not  better  advantages,  for  being  supplied  with  ample 
materials  for  cheap  and  good  clothing  than  any  other  city  on  the  Continent; 
and,  with  superior  advantages,  as  we  shall  show  alter  awhile,  for  the  manufac- 
ture of  the  materials  into  clothing,  she  will  stand  first  in  facilities  to  supply 
food  and  clothing  to  her  ever-increasing  people. 

Next  to  food  and  clothing  comes  the  necessity  for  shelter,  or  houses,  Avhich 
are  essential  to  a  high  civilization.  The  materials  out  of  which  houses  are 
mostly  made,  in  American  cities,  are  stone  and  brick,  while  the  farmer  builds 
of  stone  and  wood.  Of  these  building  materials  an  inexaustible  supply  is  to 
be  found  in  almost  any  direction  we  may  go  out,  for  three  hundred  miles,  from 
St.  Louis.  It  maj'  be  said  that;  inasmuch  as  Chicago  has  the  advantages  of 
c-hcaper  lumber,  she  has  the  advantage  over  St.  Louis  in  building  material ;  but 
this  does  not  follow.  The  new  and  best  buildings  of  Chicago  are  made  of 
stone  and  brick,  brought  from  distant  places ;  while  St.  Louis  stands  on  an 
immense  foundation  of  good  limestonOj  from  which  thousands  of  perch  are 
(quarried  annually,  and  worked  into  first-class  buildings.  Besides,  within  fifty 
and  one  hundred  miles  from  the  cit}',  in  the  southeastern  part  of  the  State,  arc 
inexhaustible  beds  of  choice  qualities  of  as  fine  building  stone  as  the  Continent 
affords ;  also,  extensive  forests  of  the  most  valuable  timbers,  suited  for  the 
mechanic  arts  and  for  building  material.  Brick,  of  first-class  quality,  are 
made  in  various  parts  of  the  city,  and  suppl}'  the  demand  for  building  purposes. 
Nor  can  any  of  these  supplies  be  exhausted  for  ages  to  come.  Stone  and  wood 
are  found  in  abundance  in  all  parts  of  the  Valley  States,  wherewith  to  supply 
the  farmer  with  cheap  building  materials. 

Thus,  we  have  seen  that  the  three  essential  requisites,  food,  clothing,  and 
shelter,  necessary  to  man's  wants  and  the  purposes  of  civilization,  can  be 
[supplied  in  abundance  and  cheapness  to  St.  Louis,  with  greater  advantages 
than  to  any  other  city  belonging  to  the  Vallej'  States ;  and  these  must  render 
her  the  greatest  market  and  the  best  depot  for  such  materials  that  the  Con- 
tinent affords. 

Passing,  then,  from  these  essential  requisites,  let  us  take  up  another  lino  of 
discussion,  that  bears  more  directlj'  upon  the  future  development  of  American 
commerce  and  American  civilization.  I  refer  to  the  productive  power  of  the 
Continent,  which  is  the  basis  of  our  physical  and  material  life.  In  what  does 
the  productive  power  of  the  Continent  consist  ?  The  answer  must  be,  that  it 
consists  in  the  soils  suited  to  agricultural  purposes,  the  coal-fields,  the  mineral 
deposits,  the  valuable  forests,  the  water-powers,  the  domestic  navigation,  and 
uU  o'erspread  with  a  temperate  and  healthful  climate.  Although  the  largest 
coal  and  iron  deposits  of  the  Continent  are  already  known,  the  geology  of  the 
entire  extent  is  so  imperfectly  known  that  there  still  remain  undisturbed  in 
many  of  the  Territories,  and  even  in  some  of  the  States,  valuable  deposits  of 
these  two  substances,  which,  ere  long,  will  be  unearthed  and  made  subservient 
to  the  wants  of  our  people. 


ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE   GREAT    CITY.  19 

Beginning  with  the  soils  of  the  country,  it  is  well  understood,  by  those 
acquainted  with  its  surface,  that  the  largest  and  richest  body  of  soil,  best 
suited  for  corn,  wheat,  oats,  ryo,  and  hay-growing,  is  sproad  over  the  Valley 
States.  In  fact,  no  country  in  the  world  has  so  large  an  area  of  rich  land  ah 
belongs  to  the  States  of  the  Mississippi  Valley.  In  capacity  for  pn^ducing 
the  various  products  in  the  department  of  agriculture,  it  has  already  been 
referred  to  in  the  discussion  of  the  subject  of  food,  and  will  require  no  further 
consideration. 

Next  to  the  corn-fields  above  como  the  coal-fields  below,  ana  tbo  iron 
deposits.  Those  are  the  material  upon  which  modern  and  more  advanced 
civilization  is  founded,  more  than  upon  any  other  substances  which  the  arts 
have  brought  into  use.     Says  Prof.  Taylor  : 

"  The  two  important  mineral  substances,  coal  and  ir(jn,  have,  when  nia-lo 
available,  aflbrded  a  permanent  basis  for  commercial  and  manufacturing  prus- 
pority.  Looking  at  the  position  of  some  of  the  gpat  depositories  of  coal  and 
iron,  one  perceives  that  upon  them  the  most  flourishing  population  is  concen- 
trated— the  most  powerful  and  magnificent  nations  of  the  earth  are  established. 
If  these  two  apparently  coarse  and  unattractive  substances  have  not  dirt-ctly 
caused  that  high  eminence  to  which  some  of  these  countries  have  attained, 
they  at  least  have  had  a  largo  share  in  contributing  to  it." 

M.  Aug.  Vischers  also  says,  that  "coal  is  now  the  indispensable  aliment  of 
industry  ;  it  is  a  primary  material,  engendering  force,  giving  a  power  euj)erior 
to  that  which  natural  agents,  such  as  water,  air,  &c.,  procure.  It  is  to  industry 
what  oxygen  is  to  the  lungs,  water  to  the  plants,  nourishment  to  the  auimal. 
It  is  to  coal  we  owe  steam  and  gas." 

Whoever  will  look  into  the  development  of  commerce  and  civilization.during 
the  greater  part  of  this  centur}-  will  find  that  coal  and  iron  have  given  them 
their  cast  and  development  in  Europe  and  America.  Nor  have  cither  of  these 
attained  their  highest  use.  On  examination,  we  find  that  St.  I.ouis  is  far  better 
supplied  than  Chicago,  Cincinnati,  or  New  Orleans,  with  coal  and  iron  ;  in 
fact,  she  stands  in  a  central  position  to  the  greatest  coal-fields  known  on  the 
globe.  Surrounded  on  the  one  sido  by  the  inexhaustible  coal-beds  c>f  Illinois, 
and  on  the  other  by  the  larger  ones  of  Missouri,  Iowa,  and  Kansas,  who  can 
iloubt  her  advantages  in  the  use  of  the  most  important  substance  for  the  next 
two  thousand  years?  On  the  one  side  we  have  Illinois,  with  her  30,000  square 
miles  of  coal,  which  is  estimated  by  Prof.  Eodgors  to  amount  to  l,227,r;00,- 
000,000  tons,  which  is  much  greater  than  the  deposits  in  Philadel|tliia — they 
amounting,  according  to  the  same  authority,  to  310,400,000,000  tuns.  On  the 
other  side  we  have  Missouri,  with  more  than  26,887  square  miles,  amounting  to 
more  than  130,000,000,000  tons.  Iowa  baa  her  24,000  square  miles  of  coal ; 
Kansas,  12.000  square  miles;  Arkansas,  12,000  square  miles;  and  the  Indian 
Territory,  10,000  square  miles.  Nearly  all  the  other  States  are  likewise 
bountifully  supplied,  but  these  figures  are  sufiicient  to  show  the  position  of  St. 
Louis  to  the  greatest  coal  deposits  in  the  world.  We  can  only  approximate 
to  the  value  of  these  resources  by  contrast.  It  is  the  available  use  of  these  two 
substances  that  has  made  England  —  a  little  island  of  the  sea,  not  so  groat  as 


20 


ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE   GREAT    CITY. 


the  State  of  Iowa  —  the  great  heart  of  the  world's  civilization  and  commerce. 
She,  with  her  144,000^000,000  tons,  or  12,000  square  miles,  of  coal,  with  its 
greater  development  and  use,  reckons  her  wealth,  in  substantial  value,  at 
8100,000,000,000 ;  while  our  nation,  with  our  3,740,000,000,000  tons,  or  500,000 
Square  miles,  of  loss  developed  and  not  so  well  used  coal,  and  more  than 
twenty-five  times  as  large,  are  only  reckoned  to  be  worth  $23,400,000,000,  with 
an  annual  increase  of  $921,700,000.  It  is  true,  our  nation  is  only  in  its  infancy, 
but  these  facts  and  the  contrast  teach  us  how  mighty  we  can  be,  if  we  do  but 
use  these  apparently  coarse  and  unattractive  substances,  coal  and  iron,  as  the 
best  wisdom  and  skill  will  enable.  We  possess  thirty-four  times  the  quantity 
of  coal  and  iron  possessed  by  England,  and  perhaps  double  as  much  as  that 
possessed  by  all  other  portions  of  the  earth.  These  resources  are  availably 
located;  they  are  in  proximity  to  the  widest  plains  and  richest  soils  known  to 
man.  They  are  developed  by  ocean-like  lakes  or  magnificent  rivers,  and  are, 
or  will  be,  traversed  by  railroads  from  ocean  to  ocean.  Their  value  is  incal- 
culable, their  extent  boundless,  and  their  richness  unequaled.  They  are  mines 
of  wealth,  more  valuable  than  gold,  and  sufficiently  distributed  over  this  great 
valley  to  supply  well-regulated  labor  to  400,000,000  producers  and  consumers. 
Adjacent  to  our  coal-fields  are  our  mountains  of  iron  of  a  superior  quality,  and 
of  quantity  inexhaustible.  Thus  is  St.  Louis  favored  with  coal  and  iron  in  such 
endless  supplies  as  to  always  render  them  as  cheap  as  the  American  market 
can  afford.  The  rich  deposits  of  precious  metals  which  belong  to  the  great 
mountain  system  of  our  continent,  being  on  the  west  side  of  the  valley,  have 
already,  and  will  necessarily  yet  more,  contribute  to  building  up  the  interior  of 
the  country  than  either  coast  region  ;  and  though  this  interest  never  can  be  so 
valuable  as  that  of  coal  and  iron,  it  is  of  immense  value  and  important  in  its 
bearing  upon  the  subject  under  discussion.  Already  the  account  has  been 
made  large,  as  the  following  table  shows,  but  not  the  half  has  been  taken  from 
those  rich  and  extended  mines  : 

Table  showing  the  Growth  of  Coinage  of  the  United  States  from  1793  to  1867. 


TEARS. 

GOLD. 

SILVER. 

COPPER. 

TOTAL. 

1793  to  1800,  8  years 

1801  to  1810,  10   '•  

1811  to  1820,  10   "  

1821  to  1830,  10   "  

1831  to  1840,  10   "  

1841  to  1850,  10   "  

1851  to  1860,  9^  "  

1861  to  1867,  7   "  

$1,014,290  00 

3,250,742  50 

3,166,510  00 

1,903,092  50 

18,791,862  00 

89,443,328  00 

470,838,180  98 

296,967,464  63 

$1,440,454  75 
3,569,165  25 
5,970,810  95 
16,781,046  95 
27,199,779  00 
22,226,755  00 
48,087,763  13 
12,638,732  11 

$79,390  82 
151,246  39 
191,158  57 
151,412  20 
342,322  21 
380,670  83 
1,249,612  53 
4,869,350  00 

$2,534,135  57 

6,971,154  14 

9,328,479  52 

18,835,551  65 

46,333,963  21 

112,050,753  83 

520,175,556  64 

314,475,546  74 

Total,  74  years 

$885,375,470  61 

$137,914,587  14 

$7,415,163  55 

$1,030,705,141  30 

Yaluable  forests  of  the  best  timbers  used  in  mechanical  industry  are  to  be 
found  in  the  southeastern  part  of  the  State,  and  will,  in  duo  time,  furnish 
material  for  agricultural  implements,  furniture,  and  the  various  uses  to  which 
timber  is  applied.  Water  powers,  not  surpassed  in  any  part  of  New  England, 
are  to  be  found  in  many  parts  of  the  eouthern  half  of  the  State,  and  which, 


ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE    GREAT    CITY.  21 

when  properly  improved,  will  contribute  largely  to  the  comraercml  interests 
of  St.  Louis. 

There  still  remains  to  be  considered  the  domestic  navigation  of  the  Missis- 
sippi Valley.  This  includes,  in  its  broadest  scope,  the  Gulf  and  the  greater 
lakes,  with  the  Mi3siBsippi  river  and  her  tributaries,  which  comprise  the  finest 
inland  navigation  on  the  globe.  These  rivers  afford  more  than  20,000  miles  of 
navigable  water,  which  form  transportation  facilities  for  the  commerce  of  the 
most  productive  portions  of  the  great  Valley  States.  The  following  remark  of 
Col.  Benton  is  very  expressive  of  the  magnitude  and  importance  of  the  river 
system  of  this  great  valley  : 

"The  river  navigation  of  the  Great  West,"  said  lie,  "is  the  most  wonderful 
on  the  globe,  and,  since  the  application  of  steani  power  to  the  propulsion  of 
vessels,  possesses  the  essential  qualities  of  open  navigation.  Speed,  distance, 
cheapness,  magnitude  of  cargoes,  are  all  there,  and  without  the  perils  of  the 
sea  from  storms  and  enemies.  The  steamboat  is  the  ship  of  the  river,  and  finds 
in  thfi  Mississippi  and  its  tributaries  the  amplest  theater  for  the  diffusion  and 
the  display  of  its  power.  Wonderful  river!  Connected  with  seas  by  the  head 
and  by  the  mouth,  stretching  its  arms  toward  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific, 
lying  in  a  valley  which  is  a  valley  from  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  to  Hudson's  Bay ; 
drawing  its  first  waters  not  from  rugged  mountains,  but  from  the  plateau  of 
the  lakes  in  the  center  of  the  Continent,  and  in  communication  with  the 
sources  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  streams  which  take  their  course  north  to 
Hudson's  Bay ;  draining  the  largest  extent  of  richest  land,  collecting  the  pro- 
ducts of  every  clime,  even  the  frigid,  to  bear  the  whole  to  market  in  the  sunny 
South,  and  there  to  meet  the  products  of  the  entire  world.  Such  is  the  Missis, 
sippi ;  and  who  can  calculate  the  aggregate  of  its  advantages  and  the  magnitude 
of  its  future  commercial  results?" 

St.  Louis  is  centrally  situated  in  this  great  system  of  domestic  navigation,  and 
cannot  fail  to  be,  in  all  the  future,  the  most  important  city  and  depot  identified 
with  its  interests.  In  the  nature  of  river  navigation,  a  smaller  class  of  boats 
is  required  for  the  upper  waters  than  those  which  can  be  most  economically 
used  in  deeper  streams,  and  hence  arises  a  necessity  for  transfer,  at  some  point, 
from  up-river  boats  to  those  of  greater  tonnage;  and  at  that  point  of  transfer, 
business  must  arise  sutficient  of  itself  to  sustain  a  considerable  city.  The  fact 
that  St.  Louis  is  this  natural  point  of  transfer  between  the  upper  waters  of 
the  Mississippi,  Missouri,  and  Illinois,  and  the  great  channel  thence  to  the  Gulf, 
is  not  to  bo  overlooked  in  estimating  its  natural  advantages.  To  the  domestic 
navigation  we  add  the  railway  system  of  the  Valley  States,  which  will,  in  a  few 
years  more,  comprise  more  than  100,000  miles;  and,  by  reference  to  the  map 
illustrating  this  new  inland  agency  for  the  easy  exchange  of  products  and 
people,  we  behold  at  a  glance  a  most  wonderful  system  traversing  all  parts  of 
these  States.  In  the  rapid  construction  of  these  lines  of  communication,  St. 
Louis  is  fast  becoming  the  greatest  railway  center  on  the  Continent,  .is  well  as 
in  the  world,  and,  with  her  advantages  for  domestic  navigation,  she  is  soon  to 
be  provided  with  the  liost  commercial  facilities  of  any  city  on  the  globe ;  and 
to  her  20,000  miles  of  river  navigation  will  be  added,  in  less  than  fifteen  years, 


22  ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE   GREAT    CITY. 

&  continental  sj-mtem  of  railway  communication  ;  and  with  all  these  constantly 
bearing  an  ever-incroaaint;  commerce  to  her  markets,  who  cannot  foi'csee  her 
destiny  among  the  cities  of  the  world?  These  thousands  of  miles  of  railway 
can  be  built  the  cheapest  of  any  extended  system  in  the  world,  as  they  are 
unobstructed  by  mountain  ranges;  they  Avill  also  bo  the  straightest,  shortest, 
.  and  best  routes  from  point  to  point,  for  the  same  reason.  Granting  that  s-he 
will  become  the  center  of  the  greatest  railway  communication  and  of  river 
navigation  in  the  country-,  wo  must  take  into  the  account  the  question  of 
freights,  as  an  item  of  interest  which  will  bear  directly  upon  tho  subject  o[ 
the  growth  of  all  American  cities.  Cheap  freights  will  have  a  dii'oct  and 
important  bearing  upon  the  matter  of  distributing  food  and  raiment  to  tho 
people  of  the  Valley  States,  and  also  of  giving  to  their  products  the  advantages 
of  the  best  market.  To  settle  this  question  in  favor  of  St.  Louis,  involves  but 
two  points  necessary  to  be  considered  :  tho  first,  tho  universal  competition 
constantly  existing  between  the  various  rival  railroads  of  tho  Yalley  States. 
which  will,  of  necessity,  make  the  freights  to  St.  Louis  as  cheap  as  to  any  otkcr 
city;  the  second  point  is,  that  St.  Louis  stands  in  the  midst  of  the  greatest 
producing  and  consuming  region  of  the  country,  and  in  this  she  cannot  fail 
to  have  tho  advantage  over  any  rival  city  that  may  aspire  for  empire  in  the 
republic  or  the  world.  Situated,  then,  as  she  is,  in  the  very  heart  of  the 
productive  power  of  the  country,  and  destined,  at  a  very  early  date,  to  be 
connected  by  railway  and  by  water,  in  the  most  advantageous  way,  with 
over}-  city  and  harbor  upon  our  seacoast,  and  with  every  inland  city  and 
productive  region  where  industry  and  wealth  can  find  opportunity,  we  are 
led  to  consider  her  future  as  a  commercial  and  manufacturing  city,  and  her 
uJvantages  to  become  a  distributing  point  for  tho  future  millions  of  industrious 
and  intelligent  of  our  race  who  are  3'ot  to  inhabit  this  Continent,  under  one  flag 
and  one  language. 

Let  us  go  a  little  deeper  into  tho  discussion.  Having  pointed  out  a  condi- 
tion of  advantages  which  nature,  by  an  inscrutable  wisdom,  has  organized 
sufficiently  strong  to  insure,  under  a  well-directed  civilization,'  the  production 
OB  our  Continent  of  the  future  great  city  of  the  world,  it  is  a  part  of  the  argu- 
ment to  point  out  some  of  the  essential  incidental  wants  and  conditions  which 
must  control  the  use  of  products  in  civilized  life,  in  order  to  make  them  sub- 
serve the  highest  use  in  supplj'ing  tho  wants  of  man. 

The  first  essential  want  of  any  productive  people  is  markets,  whereat  to 
dispose  of  their  surplus  products,  mechanical  or  agricultural,  at  profitable 
prices.  Markets  are  a  want  of  population  in  all  lands.  Mr.  Seaman  says,  in 
the  first  series  of  his  valuable  work  on  tho  progress  of  nations,  that  '•  popula- 
tion alone  adds  value  to  lands  and  property  of  every  kind,  and  is,  therefore, 
one  of  the  principal  sources  and  causes  of  wealth."  And  why  is  it  so  ?  Simply 
because  it  creates  a  market  by  causing  a  demand  for  property  and  products  ; 
it  enhances  their  price  and  exchangeable  value,  rewards  the  producer  for  his 
industry,  and  encourages  and  increases  industry  and  production.  Population 
thus  creates  markets,  and  markets  operate  to  enhance  prices  and  to  increase 
wealth,  industry,  and  production.     Markets  are,  therefore,  among  tho  princioal 


ST.    LOUIS,    TUE   FUILKE   GREAT    CITY.  23 

causes  and  sources  of  value  and  of  weallh,  and  stimulants  of  industry.  The 
farmer,  mechanic,  miner,  and  manufacturer  are  all  bcneticial  to  each  other,  for 
the  reason  that  each  wants  the  products  of  every  other  in  exchange  for  his 
own,  and  thus  caclji  creates  a  market  for  the  proilucts  of  all  the  others,  and 
thereby  enhances  prices  and  stimulates  their  iudustr}-.  llenco  the  advantage 
to  the  farmer  of  increasing  mechanical,  manufacturini^,  and  mining  industry, 
as  far  as  practicable,  in  his  own  country,  in  order  to  create  a  market  for  his 
products  and  to  encourage  domestic  commerce. 

Agricultural  products  alone  cannot  furnish  tne  materials  of  an  active 
oommerco,  and  two  nations  almost  exclusively  agricultural  have  seldom  much 
intercourse  with  each  other.  Tyro,  Carthage,  and  Athens,  in  ancient,  and 
Venice,  Florence,  Genoa,  and  the  Netherlands,  in  more  modern  times,  were  the 
greatest  of  commercial  nations  at  their  respective  eras,  as  Great  Britain  i« 
now,  because  they  were  also  in  advance  of  all  other  nations  in  the  mcchanio 
arts  and  manufactures,  and  their  commerce  was  based  on  their  mechanism  and 
manufacturing  industry,  wliich  furnished  the  principal  subject-matter  and 
materials  for  making  exchanges  and  carrying  on  commerce  with  foreign 
nations.  Then  it  is  that  the  people  of  this  great  valley  must  look  to  the 
proper  and  highest  use  of  the  resources  and  materials  which  nature  has  eo 
i)0untifully  bestowed.  Capital  and  skill  must  be  made  to  supply  the  ever- 
increasing  demand  of  this  growing  people,  and  thus  it  will  become  the  mightiest 
in  art,  the  most  bountiful  in  the  lield,  and  the  richest  in  commerce,  "and  in 
peace  more  puissant  than  army  or  navy,  for  the  conquest  of  the  world ;"  and, 
"Stimulated  to  loftier  endeavors,  each  citizen^  yielding  to  irresisiiblc  attraction, 
will  .seek  a  new  life  in  the  gi'cat  national  family. 

r>ut  it  is  argued  by  some  that  a  city  cannot  be  ?ucoe9sful  in  the  pursuit  of 
both  commercial  and  manufacturing  interests.  This  cannot  be  maintained  as  a 
correct  position.  There  never  has  been  any  war  between  commerce  and  iho 
mechanic  arts.  There  can  bo  none.  They  are  the  twin  offspring  of  industry 
and  intelligence,  and  alike  dependent  on  each  other  for  prosperity.  The  falsw 
conception  of  the  relations  they  hold  to  each  other,  and  the  condition  of  pros- 
perit}'  they  impose  upon  a  city,  come  from  a  failure  to  perceive  the  trn<» 
interests.  The  principles  of  economy  regulate  them  both,  and  it  is  rarely  thai 
a  city  situated,  as  they  are,  on  a  harbor,  on  the  coast,  or  an  available  point  on  a 
river,  where  commerce  can  find  its  easiest  exchange,  is  equally  advantageously 
situated  with  reference  to  the  raw  material  necessary  to  enter  into  the  mechanic 
arts  on  such  terms  of  competition  as  to  enable  the  producer  to  compete  with 
rival  products  in  the  market  of  the  country.  It  is  because  cities  are  so  situated 
that  a  strict  adherence  to  the  rules  of  economy  cannot  admit  of  the  union  of 
commerce  and  mechanic  arts  in  the  same  city,  that  some  suppose  that  a  com- 
mercial city  cannot  be  made  a  manufacturing  city,  and  that  a  manufacturing 
city  cannot  be  made  a  commercial  city. 

The  following  remarks,  from  a  writer  in  the  New  York  Tiwrs,  is  a  valuable 
item  in  our  argument :  "  No  one  who  desires  to  understand  the  whole  subject  cf 
his  country's  future  should  fail  to  seek  the  metropolitan  center  of  that  countrA-. 
The  question  which  puzzles  the  people,  and  even  the  newspapers,  of  late,  i» 


|24  ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE    GREAT    CITY. 

this,  *  Where  is  Paris,  the  London,  or  the  Jerusalem,  of  the  nation  ? '  I 
know  New  York  has  yet  the  clearest  title  to  that  claim,  but  of  late  St.  Louis 
has  spoken  much  and  often  in  her  own  behalf — with  what  truthfulness,  I 
propose  to  examine.  Chicago  has  been  heard,  Cincinnati-puts  in  her  voice, 
Philadelphia  prides  herself  upon  her  strength  and  beauty,  Boston  calls  herself 
the  hub,  and  others  put  in  their  claims.  Now,  next  to  New  York,  I  am 
disposed  to  regard  the  claim  of  St.  Louis.  Before  slavery  died  this  claim  was 
not  worth  much,  but  that  dead  weight  is  now  removed.  Standing  here,  then, 
in  St.  Louis,  an  Eastern  man,  I  cannot  resist  the  impression  that  1  am  in  the 
future  commercial,  if  not  political,  metropolis  of  the  land.  A  thousand  voices 
conspire  to  enforce  this  impression  upon  the  not  very  prophetic  mind.  I  would 
make  no  invidious  flings  at  the  cheek  of  Chicago,  the  conceit  of  Boston,  the 
cool  silence  of  a  New  Yorker,  as  he  points  to  a  forest  of  masts  and  a  million 
of  people,  the  nonchalant  airs  of  the  City  of  Brotherly  Love,  and  the  peculiar 
habits  of  Cincinnati.  Chicago  has  the  railroads,  she  says.  Granted.  A 
metropolis  of  railroads,  without  a  river  deep,  pure,  and  broad  enough  to  afford 
drink  to  her  present  population,  suggests  the  idea  that  railroads  cannot  make  a 
city.  Fitchburg,  in  Massachusetts,  has  more  railroads  than  any  New  England 
town.  What  does  that  bring  her,  save  the  name  of  being  Fitchburg  ?  Ship- 
ping alone,  which  you  have  in  New  York,  cannot  make  a  city.  Philadelphia 
may  keep  on  annexing  every  town  in  Pennsylvania,  and  Jersey,  too,  and  that 
cannot  make  a  metropolis.  The  pork  trade  flourishes  in  Cincinnati,  but  even 
so  respectable  a  constituency  as  a  gentlemanly  porker,  who  loves  luxury,  lives 
on  the  fat  of  the  land,  and  is  otherwise  excessively  aristocratic,  cannot  make  a 
metropolis.  In  fact,  no  great  cosmopolitan  center  can  be  made  out  of  one 
specialty.  Manchester  is  greater  than  London  in  its  specialty,  but  Manchester's 
specialty  must  always  keep  it  constrained,  and  prevent  its  ever  becoming  a 
center.  Cologne,  with  'seventy-nine  well-defined,  distinct,  and  separate' 
perfumes,  has  made  it  the  city  of  odors,  but  Cologne  can  never  be  a  capital. 
Shoes  make  and  kill  Lynn  at  once.  Lowell  and  Lawrence  have  reached  their 
highest  glory.  Chicago  is  a  depot  for  speculators  in  grain,  and  Cincinnati 
abounds  in  hogs,  but  this  is  the  end  of  their  glory.  New  York  and  St.  Louis 
are  alike  in  this  :  you  will  find  every  specialty  in  about  equal  proportion.  St. 
Louis  only  needs  one  thing  to  make  it  to  the  West  Avhat  New  York  is  to  the 
East — railroads.  She  is  not  even  an  inland  city.  Light-draught  sailing  vessels 
can  sail  from  St.  Louis  to  London.  All  that  she  further  needs  is  age.  Up  to 
1866,  capital  was  slow  to  venture  and  settle  down  in  this  city.  Save  a  few 
thrifty  Germans,  the  population  of  St.  Louis  was  southern.  This  was  her 
condition  up  to  this  time,  so  that  she  is,  practically,  a  city  of  only  ten  years' 
growth." 

There  is  another  principle  that  enters  into  the  account,  which  may  be  termed 
the  involuntary  or  fortuitous  cause — a  kind  of  happening  so  !  It  is  the  highest 
form  of  incidental  action  in  commerce.  Often  commerce,  as  if  by  the  control 
of  an  unknown  law,  will  change  from  one  city  to  another,  and  impoverish  the 
one  and  give  vitality  and  strength  to  the  other.  These  changes,  at  first  thought, 
seem  to  be  as  inexplicable  as  the  eddy  movements  of  the  water  in  the  stream. 


ST.    LOUIS,    THE    FUTURE    GREAT    CITY.  25 

They  are  changes  that  usually  have  their  origin  in  the  action  of  a  single  man 
in  the  timely  use  of  money,  sometimes  by  a  distant  cause,  sometimes  by 
legislation ;  but  never  does  commerce  forsake  an  available  point  for  the 
development  of  mechanical  industry.  Looking  at  St.  Louis,  with  her  location 
for  internal  commerce  and  mechanical  industry  without  a  parallel  on  the 
earth,  we  can  safely  say  that  she  is  destined  to  unite  in  one  great  interest 
a  system  of  commerce  and  manufacturing  that  will  surpass  in  wealth  and 
skill  that  of  Old  England.  It  is  true,  her  iron  furnace^s  and  glass  factories 
will  be  built  some  distance  outside  of  her  corporate  limits,  but  the  wealth 
and  the  labor  will  be  hers,  and  beneath  her  sway  will  be  united  side  by  side, 
in  the  most  profitable  relations  and  on  the  largest  scale,  the  producer  and 
consumer;  and  they,  actuated  by  a  universal  amity,  will  seek  the  most  liberal 
compensation,  attain  the  highest  skill,  aspire  to  a  bettor  manhood,  and  learn 
to  do  good.  The  manufacturing  of  wood  into  its  various  uses  will  also  form 
a  very  important  part  of  the  industry  of  this  city,  as  will  also  the  manufac- 
turing of  fabrics  of  various  kinds.  Thus,  with  a  great  system  of  manufac- 
turing industry,  compelling  the  coal,  the  iron,  the  wood  and  the  sand  to 
serve  the  purposes  and  wants  of  the  commercial  interests,  as  well  as  to  enter 
into  all  channels  through  which  capital  flows  and  which  industry  serves,  both 
wealth  and  population  will  be  developed  and  concentrated  in  the  highest 
degree.  The  time  fixed  for  the  future  great  city  of  the  world  to  grow  up, 
as  the  most  consummate  fruit  of  man's  civilization,  is  within  one  hundred 
years  from  our  date. 

Let  us  look  still  deeper  into  this  matter,  and  consider  the  now  agencies  and 
influences  that  tend  in  modern  times  with  such  irresistible  force  to  con- 
centrate mankind  in  the  great  interior  cities  of  the  Continents.  The  greatest 
of  these  agencies  compels  a  more  rapid  development  of  the  internal  commerce 
of  modern  nations  than  in  past  times,  and  the  consequent  organization  and 
concentration  of  human  power  in  the  interior  cities. 

There  is  not  a  living  man  whose  experience,  if  he  knows  the  facts  written  in 
the  records  of  his  own  land,  does  not  teach  him  of  the  continental  growth  and 
the  consequent  interior  development  of  the  country,  in  support  of  the  argu- 
ment under  consideration.  So  great  are  the  facts,  that  the  constant  develo[>- 
ment  oft  he  internal  trade  of  our  continent  is  rapidly  reversing  the  proportion 
of  our  domestic  to  our  foreign  commerce,  so  as  to  soon  show  the  latter  to  stand 
in  comparative  value  to  the  former,  as  the  cipher  to  the  unit ;  and  that  the 
immense  growth  of  our  domestic  and  internal  commerce  will  guide  and  con- 
trol our  industry,  and  establish  and  organize  human  power  and  civilization  in 
our  own  land  in  conformity  to  the  most  economic  principles  of  production,  sup- 
ply and  demand,  there  is  no  manner  of  doubt.  This  done,  our  foreign  com- 
merce will  only  bo  ancillary  to  the  enjoyments  of  our  people,  and  contribute  to 
the  development  of  cosmopolitan  ideas  among  the  world's  inhabitants,  mor© 
than  to  the  creation  of  wealth  among  the  nations. 

It  may  be  asked,  to  what  cause  must  this  change  in  the  relative  value  of 
foreign  and  domestic  commerce,  and  the  influence  of  each  upon  civilized  man, 
be  referred  ?     The  answer  is,  that  steam  is  the  cause.     It  is  the  most  wonder- 


26  ST.    LOUIS,    THE    FUTURE    GREAT    CITY. 

ful  artificial  agency  to  advance  public  and  private  wants  that  man  has  yet  made 
Bu&servient  to  his  will.     It  almost  serves  his  entire  mechanical  wants — 

"It  sows,  it  sculls,  it  propels,  it  screws; 
It  lifts,  it  lowers,  it  warps,  it  tows, 
It  drains,  it  plows,  it  reaps,  it  mows; 
It  pumps,  it  bores,  it  irrigates. 
It  dredges,  it  digs,  it  excavates ; 
It  pulls,  it  pushes,  it  draws,  it  drives, 
It  splits,  it  planes,  it  saws,  it  rives; 
It  carries,  scatters,  collects,  and  bring?, 
It  blows,  it  puffs,  it  halts,  it  springs; 
It  breaks,  condenses,  opens  and  shuts, 
It  picks,  it  drills,  it  hammers,  it  cuts ; 
It  shovels,  it  washes,  mixes,  and  grinds, 
It  crushes,  it  sifts,  it  bolts,  it  binds; 
It  thrashes,  winnows,  punches,  and  knoads, 
It  molds,  it  stamps,  it  presses,  it  feeds. 
It  rakes,  it  scrapes,  it  bores,  it  shaves, 
It  runs  on  land,  it  rides  on  waves; 
It  mortices,  forges,  rolls,  and  rasps, 
It  polishes,  rivets,  files,  and  clasps ; 
It  brushes,  scutches,  cards,  and  spins, 
It  puts  out  fires,  and  papers  pins ; 
It  weaves,  it  winds,  it  twists,  it  throws. 
It  stands,  it  lies,  it  comes,  it  goes; 
It  slits,  it  turns,  it  shears,  it  hews, 
It  coins,  it  prints — aye,  prints  the  news." 

Thus  we  have  a  suggestive  statement^  in  measure,  of  many  of  the  varied  uses 
of  steam.  Its  value  cannot  be  estimated,  nor  can  the  wonderful  influence 
which  its  use,  during  the  last  half  century,  has  exerted  upon  civilized  man  be 
measured. 

"We,  then,  again  repeat  that  it  is  this  agency  that  is  rapidly  transforming  the 
ancient  order  of  the  world's  industry  and  commerce  to  a  new  application  and 
a  new  power  j  and  will  compel  the  cities  of  the  interior,  in  the  future,  to  outgrow 
in  all  time  the  coast  cities.  It  is  this  agency,  more  than  all  other  mechanical 
agencies,  that  has  lifted  mankind  from  the  vassal  empires  of  Cyrus,  the  Caesars, 
and  Charlemange,  to  the  great  empires  of  our  own  time.  It  is  this  agency  that 
will  forever  develop  domestic  commerce  to  a  vastly  greater  value  than  that 
of  foreign  commerce,  and,  consequently,  is  the  most  powerful  agent  to  produce 
the  great  city  of  the  future  that  the  genius  of  man  has  made  subservient  to 
his  wants. 

But  let  us  not  be  understood  as  desirous  ot  undervaluing  foreign  trade.  We 
hope  and  believe  that  its  greatest  blessings  and  triumphs  are  yet  to  come.  Many 
of  the  articles  which  it  brings  to  us  add  much  to  our  substantial  comfort,  such 
as  woolen  and  cotton  goods,  sugar  and  molasses ;  and  others,  such  as  iron  and 
steel,  with  most  of  their  manufactures,  give  much  aid  to  our  advancing  arts. 
But  if  these  articles  wore  the  products  of  domestic  industry — if  they  were 
produced  in  the  factories  of  Lowell  and  Dayton,  on  the  plantations  of  Louisiana 
and  in  the  furnaces,  forges,  and  workshops  of  Pennsylvania  and  Missouri — 


ST.    LOUIS,    THE    FUTURE    GREAT    CITY.  27 

why  would  not  the  dealing  in  them  have  the  pame  tendency  to  enrich  as  now 
that  they  are  brought  from  distant  countries  ? 

A  disposition  to  attribute  the  rapid  increase  of  wealth  in  commercial  nations 
mainly  to  foreign  commerce,  is  not  peculiar  to  our  nation  or  our  time ;  for  we 
find  it  combated  as  a  popular  error  by  distinguished  writers  on  political  econ- 
omy. Mr.  Hume,  in  his  essay  on  commerce,  maintains  that  the  only  way  in 
which  foreign  commerce  tends  to  enrich  a  country  is  by  its  presenting  tempt- 
ing articles  of  luxury,  and  thereby  stimulating  the  industry  of  those  in  whom 
a  desire  to  purchase  is  thus  excited — the  augmented  industry  of  the  nation 
being  the  only  gain. 

Dr.  Chalmers  says:  "Foreign  trade  is  not  the  creator  of  any  economic 
interest ;  it  is  but  the  officiating  minister  of  our  enjoyments.  Should  we  consent 
to  forego  those  enjoyments,  then,  at  the  bidding  of  our  will,  the  whole  strength 
at  present  embarked  in  the  service  of  procuring  them  would  be  transferred  to 
other  services — to  the  extension  of  home  trade;  to  the  enlargement  of  our 
national  establishments  ;  to  the  service  of  defense,  or  conquest,  or  sciontitic 
research,  or  Christian  philanthropy."  Speaking  of  the  foolish  purpose  in  Bona- 
parte to  cripple  Britain  by  destroying  her  foreign  trade,  and  its  utter  failure,  he 
says  :  "  The  truth  is,  that  the  extinction  of  foreign  trade  in  one  quarter  was 
almost  immediately  followed  up  either  by  the  extension  of  it  in  another  quarter, 
or  by  the  extension  of  the  home  trade.  Even  had  every  outlet  abroad  been 
obstructed,  then,  instead  of  a  transference  from  one  foreign  market  to  another, 
there  would  just  be  a  universal  reflux  towards  a  home  market  that  would  be 
extended  in  precise  proportion  with  every  successive  abridgment  which  took 
place  in  our  external  commerce."  If  these  principles  are  true — and  we  believe 
they  are  in  accordance  with  those  of  every  eminent  writer  on  political  econ- 
omy and  if  they  are  important  in  their  application  to  the  British  isles — small 
in  territory,  with  extensive  districts  of  barren  land,  surrounded  by  navigable 
waters,  rich  in  good  harbors,  and  presenting  numerous  natural  ol'staclos  to 
constructions  for  the  promotion  of  internal  commerce ;  and,  moreover,  placed 
at  the  door  of  the  richest  nations  of  the  world — with  how  much  greater  force 
do  they  apply  to  our  country,  having  a  territory  twenty  times  as  large,  unri- 
valed natural  means  of  inter-communication,  with  few  obstacles  to  their  indefi- 
nite multiplication  by  the  hand  of  man;  a  fertility  of  soil  not  equaled  by  the 
whole  world;  growing  within  its  boundaries  nearly  all  the  productions  of  all 
the  climes  of  the  earth,  and  situated  3,000  miles  from  her  nearest  commercial 
neighbor. 

"Will  it  be  said  that,  admitting  the  chief  agency  in  building  np  great  cities  to 
belong  to  internal  industry  and  trade,  it  remains  to  be  proved  that  New  Tork 
and  the  other  great  Atlantic  cities  will  feel  less  of  the  beneficial  effects  of  this 
agency  than  St.  Louis  and  her  Western  sisters?  It  does  not  appear  to  us  diffi- 
cult to  sustain,  by  facts  and  reason,  the  superior  claims  in  this  respect  of  our 
Western  towns.  It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  North  American  Talley 
eml^races  the  climate,  soils,  and  minerals  usually  found  distributed  among  many- 
nations.  From  the  northern  shores  of  the  upper  lakes,  and  the  highest  navigable 
points  of  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri  rjvers,  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  nearly  all  the 


28  ST.    LOUIS,    TllK    FUTiaE    GREAT    CITY. 

agricultural  articles  which  contribute  to  the  enjoyment  of  civilized  man  are 
now,  or  may  be,  produced  in  profusion.  The  North  will  send  to  the  South 
grain,  flour,  proviisions,  including  the  delicate  fish  of  the  lakes,  and  the  fruits 
of  a  temperate  clime,  in  exchange  for  the  sugar,  rice,  cotton,  tobacco,  and  th® 
fruits  of  the  warm  South.  These  are  but  a  few  of  the  articles,  the  produce  of 
the  soil,  which  will  be  the  subjects  of  commerce  in  this  valley.  Of  mineral 
productions  which,  at  no  distant  day,  will  tend  to  swell  the  tide  of  internal 
commerce,  it  will  suflfice  to  mention  coal,  iron,  salt,  lead,  lime,  and  marble. 
Will  Boston,  or  New  York,  or  Baltimore,  or  New  Orleans,  be  the  point  selected 
for  the  interchange  of  these  products  ?  Or  shall  we  choose  more  convenient 
central  points  on  rivers  and  lakes  for  the  theaters  of  these  exchanges  ? 

It  is  imagined  by  some  that  the  destiny  of  this  valley  has  fixed  it  down  to 
the  almost  exclusive  pursuit  of  agriculture,  ignorant  that,  as  a  general  rule  in 
all  ages  of  the  world,  and  in  all  countries,  the  mouths  go  to  the  food,  and  not 
the  food  to  the  mouths.  Dr.  Chalmers  says  :  "  The  bulkiness  of  food  forms  one 
of  those  forces  in  the  economic  machine  Avhich  tend  to  equalize  the  population 
of  every  land  with  the  products  of  its  own  agriculture.  It  does  not  restrain 
disproportion  and  excess  in  all  cases ;  but  in  every  large  State  it  will  bo  found 
that  wherever  an  excess  obtains,  it  forms  but  a  very  small  fraction  of  th« 
whole  population.  Each  trade  must  have  an  agricultural  basis  to  rest  upon  • 
for  in  every  process  of  industry,  the  first  and  greatest  necessity  is  that  the 
workmen  shall  be  fed."  Again  :  "  Generally  speaking,  the  excrescent  (the  pop- 
ulation over  and  above  that  which  the  country  ean  feed)  bears  a  very  minut« 
proportion  to  the  natural  population  of  the  country ;  and  almost  nowhere  does 
the  commerce  of  a  nation  overleap,  but  by  a  very  little  way,  the  basis  of  its 
own  agriculture."  The  Atlantic  States,  and  particularly  those  of  New  England, 
cannot  claim  that  they  are  to  become  the  seats  of  the  manufactures  with  which 
the  West  is  to  be  supplied;  that  mechanics,  and  artisans,  and  manufacturer* 
are  not  to  select  for  their  place  of  business  the  region  in  which  the  means  of 
living  are  most  abundant  and  their  manufactured  articles  in  greatest  demand, 
but  the  section  which  is  most  deficient  in  those  means,  and  to  which  their  food 
and  fuel  must,  during  their  lives,  be  transported  hundreds  of  miles,  and  th« 
products  of  their  labor  be  sent  back  the  same  long  road  for  a  market. 

Such  a  claim  is  neither  sanctioned  by  reason,  authority,  nor  experience.  Tha 
mere  statement  exhibits  it  as  unreasonable.  Dr.  Chalmers  maintains  that  the 
"excrescent "  population  could  not,  in  Britain  even,  with  a  free  trade  in  bread- 
stuffs,  exceed  one-tenth  of  all  the  inhabitants  ;  and  Britain,  be  it  remembered, 
is  nearer  the  granaries  of  the  Baltic  than  is  New  England  to  the  food-export- 
ing portions  of  our  valley,  and  she  has  also  greatly  the  advantage  in  tho 
diminished  expenses  of  transportation.  But  the  Eastern  manufacturing  States 
have  already  nearly,  if  not  quite,  attained  to  the  maximum  ratio  of  excrescent, 
population,  and  cannot,  therefore,  greatly  augment  their  manufactures  without 
a  correspondent  increase  in  agricultural  production. 

.  Most  countries,  distinguished  for  manufjictures,  have  laia  tne  lounaatiom  m 
a  highly  improved  agriculture.  England,  the  north  of  France,  and  Belgium 
have  a  more  productive  husbandry  than  any  other  region  of  the  same  extent. 


ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE    GREAT    CITY.  29 

In  these  same  countries  are  also  to  bo  found  the  most  efficient  and  extensive 
manufacturing  establishments  of  the  whole  world ;  and  it  is  not  to  be  doubted 
that  abundance  of  food  was  one  of  the  chief  causes  of  setting  them  in  motion. 
IIow  is  it  that  a  like  cause  opwating  hero  will  not  produce  a  like  effect  ?  Have 
wo  not,  in  addition  to  our  prolific  agriculture,  as  many  and  as  great  natural 
aids  for  manufacturing  as  any  other  country  ?  The  water-power  of  Missouri 
alone  is  greater  than  that  of  Now  England;  besides,  there  are  immense  facili- 
ties in  the  States  of  Kentucky,  Minnesota,  and  Ohio,  as  well  as  valuable  advan- 
tages possessed  in  all  the  Valley  States.  But  to  these  water-powers  can  be 
added  tho  immeasurable  power  of  steam  in  developing  manufacturing  industry 
in  our  own  as  well  as  other  States  of  this  valloy. 

If  our  readers  are  satisfied  that  domestic  or  internal  trade  must  have  the 
chief  agency  in  building  up  our  great  American  cities,  and  that  the  internal 
trade  of  the  groat  Western  Valley  will  be  mainly  concentrated  in  the  cities 
situated  within  its  bosom,  it  becomes  an  interesting  subject  of  inquiry  how  our 
leading  interior  city  will,  at  some  distant  period  —  say  one  hundred  years  — 
become  the  great  city  of  the  world,  and  gather  to  itself  the  preponderance  of 
the  industry  and  trade  of  the  continent. 

But  our  interior  cities  will  not  depend  for  their  development  altogothor  on 
internal  trade.  They  will  partake,  in  some  degree,  with  their  Atlantic  and 
Pacific  sisters,  of  the  foreign  commerce  also  ;  and  if,  as  some  seem  to  suppose, 
the  profits  of  commerce  increase  with  the  distance  at  which  it  is  carried  on,  and 
the  ditlieulties  which  nature  has  thrown  in  its  way,  the  Western  towns  will  have 
the  same  advantage  over  their  Eastern  rivals  in  foreign  commerce,  which  some 
claim  for  the  latter  over  the  former  in  our  domestic  trade.  St.  Louis  and  her 
lake  rivals  may  use  the  outporis  of  New  Orleans  and  New  York,  as  Paris  and 
Vienna  use  those  of  Havre  and  Trieste;  and  it  will  surely  one  da}"  come  to 
pass  that  steamers  from  Eurojte  will  enter  our  great  lakes  and  be  seen  booming 
up  the  Mississij)pi. 

♦  To  add  strength  and  conclusiveness  to  the  above  facts  and  deductions,  do  our 
readers  ask  for  examples  ?  They  are  at  hand.  The  first  city  of  which  we  have 
any  record  is  Nineveh,  situated  on  the  Tigris,  not  less  than  700  miles  from  its 
mouth.  Babylon,  built  not  long  after,  was  also  situated  far  in  the  interior,  on 
Vhe  river  Euphrates.  Most  of  the  great  cities  of  antiquity,  some  of  which  were 
of  immense  extent,  were  situated  in  the  interior,  and  chiofiy  in  tho  valleys  of 
large  rivers  meandering  through  rich  alluvial  territories.  Such  werd  Thebes, 
Memphis,  Ptolomais  and  Jionie. 

But  when  wo  consider  that  our  position  in  vindication  of  the  superior  growth 
of  interior  cities  over  outporis  is  sustained  by  the  civilization  of  the  ancient 
nations,  as  found  in  tho  examples  of  their  great  interior  cities,  and  that,  too, 
when  water  facilities  ruled  the  commerce  of  tho  world,  must  not  all  opposing 
argument  in  favor  of  seaboard  cities  be  of  naught  when  we  bring  to  the  dis- 
cussion the  power  and  use  of  steam,  the  railway  system,  and  the  labor-saving 
and  labor-increasing  inventions  which  tho  arts  afford  ?  Comprehending  this 
mighty  reversal  in  the  order  and  means  of  industrial  civilization,  must  we  not 
say,  with  Horace  Greeley,  that  "  salt  water  is  about  played  out "  ? 


30  ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE    GREAT    CITY. 

Of  cities  now  known  as  loading  centers  of  commerce,  a  large  majority  have 
been  built  almost  exclusively  by  domestic  trade.  What  country  has  so  many 
great  cities  as  China  — a  country,  until  lately,  nearly  destitute  of  foreiga 
commerce? 

There  are  now  in  the  world  more  than  300  cities  containing  a  population  of 
50,000  and  upwards  ;  of  these  more  than  two-thirds  are  interior  cities,  contain- 
ing a  population  vastly  greater  than  belongs  to  the  outport  cities.  It  should, 
however,  be  kept  in  mind  that  many  of  the  great  seaports  have  been  built,  and 
are  now  sustained,  mainly  by  the  trade  of  the  nations  respectively  in  which 
they  are  situated.  Even  London,  the  greatest  mart  in  the  world,  is  believed  to 
derive  much  the  greater  part  of  the  support  of  its  vast  population  from  its  trade 
with  the  United  Kingdom.  At  the  present  time  not  one-fifteenth  of  the  busi- 
ness of  New  York  city  is  based  upon  foreign  commerce,  but  is  sustained  by  the 
trade  growing  out  of  our  home  industry. 

Though  the  argument  is  not  exhaustive,  it  is  conclusive.  It  is  founded  in 
the  all-directing  under  life-currents  of  human  existence  upon  this  planet,  and 
from  its  principles  there  is  neither  variableness  nor  shadow  of  turning  away. 
Man's  home  is  upon  the  land ;  he  builds  his  master-works  upon  its  sure  foun- 
dations. It  is  upon  the  land  that  he  invents,  contrives,  plans,  and  achieves 
his  mightiest  deeds.  He  spreads  his  sails  upon  the  seas  and  battles  with  the 
tempest  and  the  storm ;  and  amid  the  sublimities  of  the  ocean  he  travels 
unknown  paths  in  search  of  fame.  The  ephemeral  waves  obliterate  the  traces 
of  his  victories  with  the  passing  moments ;  upon  the  land,  time  alone  can  efface 
his  works. 

The  organization  of  society  as  one  whole  is  yet  too  imperfect  to  call  for  th© 
use  of  one  all-directing  head  and  one  central  moving  heart,  and  it  will  only  be 
the  ultimate,  the  final  great  city,  that  will  fully  unite  in  itself  the  functions 
analogOHS  to  those  of  the  human  head  and  heart,  in  relation  to  the  whole  family 
of  man. 

The  center  of  this  great  commercial  power  will  also  carry  with  it  th% 
center  of  the  moral  and  intellectual  power.  One  hundred  years,  at  our 
previous  rate  of  increase,  will  give  more  than  four  duplications,  and  more  than 
six  hundred  millions  of  people,  to  the  present  area  of  our  country.  But,  allow- 
ing twenty-five  years  for  a  duplication,  and  four  duplications,  we  would  have  six 
hundred  millions  at  the  close  of  one  hundred  years.  Of  these,  not  less  than 
four  hundred  millions  will  inhabit  the  interior  plain  and  the  region  west  of  it ; 
and  not  over  two  hundred  millions  will  inhabit  the  margin  east  of  the  Appa- 
lachian mountains.  The  productions  of  these  four  hundred  millions,  intended 
for  exchange  with  each  other,  will  meet  at  the  most  convenient  point  central 
to  the  place  of  the  growth  or  manufacture  of  their  products.  Where,  then, 
let  us  inquire  again,  is  most  likely  to  be  the  center  of  the  most  ample  and 
best  facilities  for  the  exchange,  in  the  future,  of  the  commodities  of  that  great 
people  ?  Where  will  that  point  be  ?  Which  of  the  four  cities  we  have  under 
consideration  is  best  suited  for  this  great  purpose  ?  Must  it  not  be  St.  Louis, 
commanding,  as  she  will,  the  greatest  railway  and  river  communication  ? 
It  cannot  be  a  lake  city,  for  neither  of  them  can  command,  with  so  great 


ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE   GREAT   CITY. 


31 


advantage,  the  great  surplus  products  of  the  countr}-.  It  cannot  be  Cincin- 
nati, for  she  is  not  so  well  situated  in  the  center  of  the  productive  power 
of  the  continent.  It  cannot  bo  New  Orleans ;  higher  freights  upon  the  pro- 
ducts of  the  country  will  bo  against  her.  It  cannot  be  Now  York  nor  San 
Francisco,  for  all  our  six  fundamental  facts  stand  against  thorn,  and  uner- 
ringly point  to  the  central  plain  of  the  continent,  where  the  four  hundred 
millions  of  people  will  prefer  to  transact  businorfs. 

Human  power,  as  already  stated,  is  moving  westward  from  the  old  world, 
as  well  as  from  our  own  Atlantic  seaboard.  But  a  few  facts  are  necessary  to 
demonstrate  the  truth  of  this  statement :  First,  in  evidence  that  human 
power  is  moving  westward  from  the  old  world,  we  have  but  to  refer  to  the 
reports  of  the  State  Department  at  Washington  upon  our  foreign  commerco 
to  learn  that  our  imports  are  greater  than  our  exports,  and  our  internal 
commerce  far  greater  than  our  foreign  commerce ;  and  by  reference  to  the 
various  reports  on  emigration,  we  learn  that  thousands  are  coming  from  West- 
ern Europe,  yearly,  to  our  shores,  while  but  few  of  our  own  people  are  seeking 
homes  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic.  Second,  in  evidence  of  the  west- 
ward movement  of  human  power  from  the  Atlantic  States,  the  following 
statistical  facts  are  given ;  and  although  our  tables  show,  in  the  most  conclu- 
sive manner,  that  human  power  is  moving  westward,  yet  since  they  were 
made  up,  many  thousands  of  new  miles  of  railways  have  been  added  to  the 
great  system  of  the  Mississippi  Yalley,  and  at  least  three-tifths  of  the  number  of 
miles  of  railways  of  the  entire  country  are  now  in  the  Yalley  of  the  Mississippi. 

Nor  can  these  facts,  in  their  magnitude  and  character,  be  considered  of 
casual  concern  to  the  American  citizen  ;  for  they  are  the  most  important  in 
our  national  progress.  They  are  the  irrefutable  evidences  of  the  historic  and 
sublime  march  of  the  American  people  in  the  course  of  the  star  of  empire  iu 
its  majestic  career  across  the  continent. 

The  following  Table  will  show  the  number  of  nulcs  of  rati  road  in  operation  in  the 
United  States  for  each  year  since  1830,  also  the  ratio  of  such  mileage  to  the 
area  and  the  population  of  the  several  States. 


J. 

Year. 

c  2 

111 

< 

IHol 

1:8 

18:VJ 

95 

72 

188:^ 

22'.) 

184 

1884 

880 

l.=->l 

18:'..-, 

fi83 

2.-.3 

183r. 

l.O'.tS 

2f,5 

1887 

1,273 

175 

1888.. 

1,497 

224 

1889 

1.918 

410 

1840 

2.802 

389 

1841 

2.818 

5U\ 

1842 

3.585 

717 

1848> 

4.026 

491 

1844 

4,185 

l.'iO 

a  o  i 


1S44 

4,377 

184.5 

4,688 

1840 

4.980 

1H47 

5.  .'.99 

l.'<48 

6,996 

1S40 

7,8tl5 

1S50 

9,021 

1851 

10,982 

18.^2 

rj.'.KW 

18.53 

1.5.860 

1854 

16.720 

18.55 

18.874 

1856 

22.017 

a  0  s> 


18.-,7. 
18;58. 
1.H.59. 
1860. 
1^6l. 
1862 
1863. 
1864. 
186.5. 
18r.6. 
18.17. 
1868. 
1869 


24,408 
26.t»68 
28.789 
80,6.36 
81,'250 
82,120 
8;^.170 
S;^.<i08 

a-).o*<6 

86.827 
39.276 
42.2.55 
47,264 


2,491 
2,4»'.0 

1.821 ; 

1,846 
621, 

1.0.50 
73.9 
1.177 
1,742 
2.44'J 
2.97tf 
4,990 


32 


ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE   GREAT    CITY. 


STATEMENT 

Showing  the  area,  population,   and  railroad  mileage  in  the  several  States,  and 
their  relation  to  each  other,  on  or  near  January  1,  1870. 


States,  etc. 


Maine 

!New  Hampshire — 

Vermont 

Massacluisetts , 

Khode  Island , 

Connecticut , 

New  York , 

New  Jersey 

Pennsylvania 

Delaware 

Maryland  and  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia. 

West  Virginia 

Ohio 

Michigan 

Indiana 

Illinois 

"Wisconsin 

Minnesota 

Iowa 

Missouri 

Nebraska,  Wy  om'g, 
and  Utah..". 

Kansas 

Colorado 

Virginia 

North  Carolina 

South  Carolina 

Georgia 

Florida 

Alabama 

Mississippi 

Louisiana 

Texas 

Kentucky 

Tennessee 

Arkansas 

California 

Nevada 

Oregon 


OS'S 


31,776 

9,280 

10,212 

7,800 

1,306 

4,674 

47,000 

8,320 

46.000 

2,120 

11,184 

23,000 
39,964 
56,451 
■  83,809 
55,410 
53,924 
83,531 
55.045 
65,350 

300,000 

81,318 

40,904 
50,704 
29,385 
58,000 
59,268 
50,722 
47,156 
41,346 
237,504 
37,600 
45,600 
52,191 
188,981 
112,090 
95,274 


POPULATIOK. 

Total. 

Tosq. 
mile. 

665,600 

20.03 

340,000 

86.64 

320,000 

81.33 

1,350,000 

173.08 

200,000 

153.14 

525,000 

112.32 

4,400,000 

93.62 

900,000 

108.17 

3,500,000 

76.69 

125,000 

58.96 

800,000 

71.54 

400,000 

17.39 

2,650,000 

66.31 

1,200,000 

19.45 

1,750,000 

51.77 

2,567,532 

44.21 

1,300,000 

25.99 

600,000 

7.19 

1,250,000 

22.74 

1,600,000 

24.50 

250,000 

.83 

600,000 

7.38 
3l".78 

1,300,000 

1,050.000 

20.78 

700,000 

23.82 

1,100.000 

18.97 

150,000 

2.53 

980,000 

19.32 

800,000 

16.96 

730.000 

17.69 

750,000 

8.16 

1,250,000 

33.24 

1,050,000 

23.03 

500,000 

9.58 

600,000 

3.17 

100,000 

.89 

80,000 

.84 

680 

702 

621 

1,480 

125 

692 

8,658 

1,011 

4,898 

210 

588 


3,448 
1,325 
2,853 
4,036 
1,512 
795 
2,095 
1,800 

1,058 

1,150 

293 

1,483 

1,130 

1,101 

1,652 

446 

1,081 

990 

375 

583 

852 

1,451 

128 

702 

60 

402 


$  24,694,200 

23,479,092 

25,043,408 

88,361,920 

5,092,125 

26,453,700 

184,476,598 

62,594,043 

254,877,226 

7,828,590 

34,398,599 

26,508,726 
137,020,072 
57,151,225 
102,143,106 
178,704,476 
57,974,616 
25,249,200 
82,557,6()5 
98,991,000 


46,621,000 

8,790,000 

52,312,825 

23,148,050 

5,123,691 

33,537,252 

9,705,852 

27,191,474 

29,021,850 

15,116,375 

21,013,652 


47,853 


52,8^0,944 
"r6,'307,682 


36,315 
33,446 
41,864 
59,704 
40,737 
38,225 
50,431 
61,913 
52,037 
37,279 

58,501 

68,498 
39,739 
43,133 
35,802 
42,791 
38,343 
31,760 
39,407 
54,995 


40,540 
30,000 
35,275 
20,485 
25,491 
20,301 
21,762 
25,154 
29,315 
40,577 
36,044 
35,776 
25,917 
43,562 
75,272 

25[64i 


1  MiLB  OF  R.K. 


Tosq.    Toinhab- 
mile-.      itants. 


46.71 
13.22 
16.42 

5.27 
10.45 

6.75 
12.89 

8.22 

9.39 
10.10 

19.02 

59.43 
11.59 
42.60 
11.85 
13.17 
35.66 
105.09 
26.28 
38.17 

283.55 

87.34 

*27."59 
44.87 
26.71 
35.11 
132.69 
46.92 
47.66 
110.26 
407.39 
44.01 
31.42 
407.74 
269.20 
1587.90 
278.83 


977.9 
484.3 
514.4 
912.2 

1,600.0 
758.6 

1,202.4 
890.2 
714.5 
595.5 

1,360.5 

1,033.6 
768.5 
905.7 
613.8 
607.0 
925.8 
754.7 
596.6 
934.6 


644.4 

*"876.*6 

829.2 

636.3 

671,9 

336.3 

906.6 

808.1 

1,946.6 

1,286.4 

1,467.1 

723.6 

3,906.2 

854.7 

1,333.3 

248.7 


The  above  table,  with  some  slight  changes,  is  taken  from  Mr.  Poor's  Rail, 
road  Manual  for  1870-71.  In  some  particulars  it  is  incorrect.  It  falls  short  in 
giving  the  present  population  of  the  country.  .  Our  present  census  will  show 
us  to  have  more  than  42,000,000  inhabitants.  It  is  estimated  that  our  present 
railway  system,  as  exhibited  by  the  above  table,  cost  $2,000,000,000,  which  ia 
the  annual  value  of  the  commerce  of  our  Western  rivers. 


ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE   GREAT    CITY. 


33 


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34 


ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE   GREAT   CITY. 


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3  i 

ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE   GREAT   CITY.  35 

But  granting  that  human  power  is  moving  westward,  we  must  assume  that 
somewhere  in  time  it  will  bo  arrested,  and  culminate  in  the  highest  enfoldment 
of  civil,  social,  and  material  life.  Then,  in  its  westward  movement,  will  it  bo 
arrested  in  North  America,  or  will  it  cross  the  Pucitic  to  the  inferior  races  of 
Asia,  or  will  it  reach  and  make  a  lodgment  on  the  Pacific  slope  ?  We  cannot  so 
reason  or  apprehend.  The  vast  arid  and  mountainous  regions  of  the  western 
half  of  the  continent,  and  the  unequaled  extent  of  fertile  lands  on  the  eastern 
half  of  the  continent,  and  adjacent  to  and  on  either  side  of  the  great  river, 
fixes  its  location  inevitably  in  the  central  plain  of  the  continent;  and  in  the 
center  of  its  productive  power,  and  with  the  development  and  complete 
organization  of  human  power  in  the  center  of  the  productive  power  of  the 
continent,  will  most  certainly  grow  up  the  great  city  of  the  future — the  great 
material,  social,  civil,  and  moral  heart  of  the  human  race.  The  raw  materials 
necessary  to  the  artisan  and  the  manufacturer,  in  the  production  of  whatever 
ministers  to  comfort  and  elegance,  are  here.  The  bulkinoss  of  food  and  raw 
materials  makes  it  the  interest  of  the  artisan  and  the  manufacturer  to  locate 
hiraself  near  the  place  of  their  production.  It  is  this  interest,  constantly 
operating,  which  peoples  our  Western  towns  and  cities  with  emigrants  from 
the  Eastern  States  and  Europe.  When  food  and  raw  materials  for  manufacture 
are  no  longer -cheaper  in  the  great  valley  than  in  the  States  of  the  Atlantic 
and  the  nations  of  Western  Europe,  then,  and  not  till  then,  will  it  coaso  to  be 
the  interest  of  artisans  and  manufacturers  to  prefer  a  locution  in  Western 
towns  and  cities.  This  time  will  probably  be  about  the  period  when  the  Mis- 
Bissippi  shall  flow  toward  its  head. 

The  chief  points  for  the  exchange  of  the  varied  productions  of  industry  in 
our  Western  valley  will  necessarily  give  employment  to  a  great  population. 
Indeed,  the  locations  of  our  future  great  cities  have  been  made  with  reference 
to  their  commercial  capabilities.  Commerce  has  laid  the  foundation  on  which 
manufactures  have  been,  to  a  great  extent,  instrumental  in  rearing  the  super- 
structure. Together,  these  departments  of  labor  are  destined  to  build  up  in 
our  fertile  valley  the  greatest  cities  of  the  world. 

It  is  something  to  us  Americans  that  this  great  city,  the  great  all-directing 
heart  of  the  race,  is  t(5  grow  up  in  our  land.  Even  to  as  of  this  generation  a 
realization  of  the  final  fact  is  a  proud  thought  to  enjoy,  in  the  present  and 
coming  conflicts  of  this  progressive  life.  As  we  have  already  seen,  St.  Louis  is 
Bubstantially  central  to  the  Mississippi  Valley,  and  no  city  on  the  continent  can 
lay  any  just  claim  to  become  the  future  great  city,  and  occupy  a  central  position 
to  80  many  valuable  resources  as  she  does.  She  is  not  only  substantially  in  the 
center  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  but,  allowing  her  to  be  nine  hundred  miles 
from  New  York  City,  she  occupies  the  center  of  an  area  of  2,544,688  square 
miles,  and  within  a  circumference  the  outer  line  of  which  touches  Chicago. 
She  occupies  the  center  of  an  area  of  country  which,  in  fertility  of  soil,  coal, 
iron,  timber,  stone,  water,  domestic  navigation,  and  railways,  cannot  be  equaled 
on  the  globe. 

Cities,  like  individuals,  have  a  law  of  growth  that  may  be  said  to  be  consti- 
tutional and  inherent,  but  the  measure  ef  that  law  of  growth  does  not  seem  to 


86  ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE    GREAT    CITY. 

be  sufficiently  understood  to  furnish  a  basis  for  calculating  their  growth  to  any 
considerable  time  in  the  future.  In  the  development  of  a  nation  and  country, 
new  agencies  are  continually  coming  into  the  account  of  growth  and  work, 
either  favorable  or  unfavorable.  The  growth  of  cities  is  somewhat  analogous 
to  the  pursuits  of  business  men  :  some  move  rapidly  forward  in  the  accumu- 
lation of  wealth,  to  the  end  of  life  j  others  only  for  a  time  are  able  to  keep 
even  with  the  world.  So,  too,  in  the  growth  of  cities  j  and  thus  it  is  difficult  to 
calculate  with  exactness  their  future  growth.  Cities  grow  with  greater  rapid- 
ity than  nations  and  States,  and  much  sooner  double  their  population ;  and, 
with  the  constantly  increasing  tendency  of  the  people  to  live  in  cities,  we  can 
look  with  greater  certainty  to  the  early  triumph  of  our  inland  cities  over  those 
of  the  seaboard;  for,  so  surely  as  the  population  of  the  Yalley  States  doubles 
that  of  the  seaboard  States,  so  surely  will  their  cities  be  greater.  The  city  of  ■ 
London,  now  the  greatest  in  the  woi'ld^  having  more  than  three  million  people, 
has  only  doubled  its  population  every  thirty  years,  while  New  York  has  doubled 
every  fifteen  years.  According  to  Mr.  J.  W.  Scott,  London  grows  at  an  aver- 
age annual  rate,  on  a  long  time,  of  two  per  cent.;  New  York,  at  five  ;  Chicago, 
at  twelve  and  one-half ;  Toledo,  twelve;  Milwaukee,  Detroit,  Cleveland,  Cin- 
cinnati, Buffalo,  and  St.  Louis,  at  the  rate  of  eight  per  cent.  Mr.  Scott  gives 
these  calculations  as  approximately  true  for  long  periods  of  time.  They  may 
be  essentially  true  in  the  past,  but  cannot  be  relied  on  for  the  future ;  for,  as  I 
have  already  said,  the  growth  of  a  city  is  as  uncertain  as  a  man's  chance  is  in 
business — he  may  pass  directly  on  to  fortune,  or  may  be  kept  back  by  the 
fluctuations  of  the  markets,  or  greater  hindi'ances  interposed  by  wars.  Touch- 
ing the  subject  of  climate,  I  shall  not  deem  it  of  sufficient  bearing  upon  this 
subject  to  enter  into  a  nice  discussion  of  the  influence  of  heat  and  cold  upoa 
man  in  civilized  life,  in  the  north  temperate  zone  of  the  North  American 
•ontinent.  All  experience  teaches  that  there  is  not  sufficient  variation  of  the 
climate  throughout  the  middle  belt  of  our  country  to  adversely  affect  the 
highest  and  greatest  purposes  of  American  industry  and  American  civiliza- 
tion. The  same  rewards  and  the  same  destiny  await  all.  The  densest  popula- 
tion of  which  we  have  any  record  is  now,  and  has  been  for  centuries,  on  the 
thirtieth  degree  of  north  latitude;  and  if  such  can  be  in  China,  why  may  it 
not  be  in  America  ? 

Again,  returning  to  our  first  fundamental  fact,  that  human  power  is  moving 
westward  from  the  city  of  London,  we  must  calculate  that  that  great  city  will 
be  succeeded  by  a  rival,  one  which  will  grow  up  in  the  new  world,  and  that  that 
»ew  city  will  result  in  the  final  organization  of  human  society  in  one  complete 
whole,  and  the  perfect  development  and  systemization  of  the  commerce  of  the 
world ;  will  grow  to  such  magnificent  proportions,  and  be  so  perfectly  organ- 
ized and  controlled  in  its  municipal  governmental  character,  as  to  constitute 
the  most  perfect  and  greatest  city  of  the  world — the  all-directing  head  and 
heart  of  the  great  family  of  man.  The  new  world  is  to  be  its  home,  and  nature 
and  civilization  will  fix  its  residence  in  the  central  plain  of  the  continent,  and 
in  the  center  of  the  productive  power  of  this  great  valley,  and  upon  the  Missis- 
sippi river,  and  whei"e  the  city  of  St.  Louis  now  stands.     All  arguments  point 


ST.    LOUIS,    Tilt:    FUTURE    GKEAT    CITY.  37 

to  this  Olio  great  fact  of  tlie  future,  and,  with  its  perfect  realization,  will  be 
attained  the  highest  possibility  in  the  material  triumph  of  mankind. 

Let  us  comprehend  the  inevitable  causes  which  God  and  civilization  have  set 
to  work  to  produce,  in  time,  this  final  great  city  of  the  world  in  our  own  fair 
land  ;  and,  with  prophetic  conception,  realizing  its  final  coming,  let  us  hail  it  as 
the  master-work  of  all  art  and  the  home  of  consummated  wisdom,  the  inher- 
itance of  organic  liberty,  and  controlled  by  an  all-pervading  social  order  that 
will  insure  a  competency  to  every  member  of  the  in-gathered  family.  The 
immense  accommodation  of  railroads  will,  by  rapid,  cheap,  and  easy  communi- 
cation, draw  to  great  centers  from  great  distances  around,  and  thus  the  great 
cities  of  the  world  will  continue  to  grow  until  they  reach  a  magnitude  hitherto 
unknown ;  and,  above  them  all,  will  St.  Louis  reap  the  rich  rewards  of  modern 
discoveries  and  inventions,  especially  as  regards  steam  and  all  its  vast  and 
varied  influence. 

Henceforth  St.  Louis  must  be  viewed  in  the  light  of  her  future,  her  mighti- 
ness in  the  empire  of  the  world,  her  sway  in  the  rule  of  States  and  nations. 
Her  destiny  is  fixed.  Like  a  new-born  empire,  she  is  moving  forward  to 
conscious  greatness,  and  will  soon  be  the  world's  magnet  of  attraction.  In 
her  bosom  all  the  extremes  of  the  country  are  represented,  and  to  her  growth 
all  parts  of  the  country  contribute.  Mighty  as  are  the  possibilities  of  her 
people,  still  mightier  are  the  hopes  inspired.  The  city  that  she  now  is  is  only 
the  germ  of  the  city  of  the  future  that  she  will  be,  with  her  ten  million  souls 
occupying  the  vast  area  of  her  dominion.  Her  strength  will  be  that  of  a 
nation,  and,  as  she  grows  toward  maturity,  her  institutions  of  learning  and 
philosophy  will  correspondingly  advance.  If  we  but  look  forward,  in  imagi- 
nation, to  her  consummated  greatness,  how  grand  is  the  conception  !  We  can 
realize  that  hero  will  be  reared  great  halls  and  edifices  for  art  aqd  learning; 
hero  will  congregate  the  great  men  and  women  of  future  ages;  here  will  be 
represented,  in  the  future,  some  Solon  and  Hamilton,  giving  laws  for  the 
higher  and  better  government  of  the  people;  here  will  be  represented  sorao 
future  groat  teachers  of  religion,  teaching  the  ideal  and  spiritual  unfolding  of  the 
race,  and  its  allegiance  to  the  angel  world  ;  here  will  live  some  future  Plutarch, 
weighing  the  great  men  of  his  ago;  hero  some  future  "Mozart  will  thrill  the 
strings  of  a  more  perfect  l^'re,  and  improvise  grandest  melodies"  for  the  congre- 
gated people;  hero  some  future  "Kombrandt,  through  his  own  ideal  imagina- 
tion, will  picture  for  himself  more  perfect  panoramic  scones  of  nature's  lovely 
landscapes."  May  wo  not  justly  rejoice  in  the  anticipation  of  the  future  great- 
ness of  the  civil,  social,  industrial,  intellectual,  and  moral  elements  which  are 
destined  to  form  a  part  of  the  future  great  city  ?  And  may  we  not  realize  that 
the  millions  who  are  yet  to  be  its  inhabitants  will  bo  a  wiser  and  bpttor  people 
than  those  of  this  generation,  and  who,  in  more  perfect  life,  will  walk  those 
streets,  in  the  city  of  the  future,  with  softer  tread,  and  sing  music  with  sweeter 
tones,  be  urged  on  by  aspirations  of  higher  aims,  rejoice  with  fuller  hearts,  and 
adorn  in  beauty,  with  more  tender  hands,  the  final  great  city  of  the  world  ? 


<J8  ST.    LOUIS,    IHK  FUTIRE   GllEAT    CITY. 


THE  RAILWAY  SYSTEM  OF  ST.  LOUIS. 


To  determine  the  importance  of  a  State  or  city,  its  essential  condition  and 
advantages  must  be  defined  and  understood,  both  in  their  immediate  and 
approximate  relations  ;  and  to  ascertain  their  future  greatness  and  conti-olling 
influence,  their  local  and  general  relations  must  be  considered  in  connection 
■with  the  natural  advantages  which  they  possess  for  the  civil  and  industrial 
pursuits  of  man,  and  their  natural  and  artificial  facilities' for  the  exchange  of 
the  products  of  different  lands  and  climates,  and  the  intercommunication  of 
one  people  with  another.  By  these  means  the  commercial  and  civil  value  of 
all  States  and  cities  can  easily  be  determined,  and  their  general  values 
estimated  in  the  march  of  civilization  and  pi'ogress.  It  is  by  these  means 
that  we  propose  to  determine  the  commercial  importance  of  St.  Louis,  and  the 
place  she  will  fill,  and  the  influence  she  will  exercise  in  the  present  continental 
strife  for  commercial  supremacy. 

The  most  important  consideration  of  the  subject  is  her  system  of  railroads 
and  navigable  rivers,  a  full  description  of  which  we  submit,  in  so  far  as  the 
facts  relate  to  the  practicable  purposes  of  commerce. 

The  Mississippi  river  is  the  continental  stream  of  North  America.  It  forms 
a  line  of  unbroken  navigation  from  JSew  Orleans  to  Fort  Snelling,  a  distance  of 
2,131  miles.  No  stream  has  ever  served  so  valuable  purposes  to  commerce  and 
civilization,  and  no  city  upon  its  banks  has  ever  or  can  ever  share  so 
largely  in  the  commerce  that  floats  upon  its  waters  as  St.  Louis.  In  connection 
with  its  tributaries  it  affords  more  than  ten  thousand  miles  of  inland  navi- 
gation, and  more  than  three-fourths  of  which  bear  directly  upon  the  interests 
of  St.  Louis.  More  than  ten  thousand  steamboats,  together  with  a  large 
number  of  barges,  lighters,  and  similar  crafts,  used  as  auxiliaries  in  the  carry- 
ing trade,  are  actively  engaged  in  the  commerce  of  these  waters ;  the  far 
greater  part  of  which  does  now  and  will  continue  to  bear  upon  the  interests  of 
St.  Louis. 

Besides  the  already  navigable  streams  there  are  many  smaller  tributaries 
which  will,  when  the  country  is  older  and  more  wealthy,  be  converted  into 
canals,  and  thus  furnish  an  extended  western  slack-water  navigation. 

Turning  from  the  rivers,  wo  now  proceed  to  set  forth  her  great  system  of 


ST.    LOUIS,    TUE   FUTURE    GREAT    CITY.  39 

railroads,  as  t^jcy  are  now  completed  j  also  those  which  are  being  built,  and  the 
most  importaiit  of  such  lines  as  have  been  agitated. 

1.  The  St.  Louis  and  Cairo  E.  R.     Projected. 

2.  Belleville  and  Southern  R.  R. 

3.  St.  Louis  and  Evansville  R.  R.    l>uikling, 

4.  St.  Louis  and  Southeastern  Illinois  R.  R.     Building. 

5.  New  Albany  and  St.  Louis  R.  R.     Building. 

6.  The  Ohio  and  Mississippi  R.  R. 

7.  The  St.  Louis,  Vandalia  and  Torre  Haute  R.  R. 

8.  The  Indianapolis  and  St.  Louis  R.  R. 

9.  Decatur  and  East  St.  Louis  R.  R. 

10.  Chicago,  Alton  and  St.  Louis  R.  R.     This  road  will  soon  have  a  double 

steel  track  between  Chicago  and  St.  Louis. 

11.  St.  Louis,  Jacksonville  and  Bloomington  R.  R. 

12.  Rockford,  Rock  I.-^l.ind  and  St.  Louis  R.  R. 
Peoria,  Pekin  and  Jacksonville  R.  R.;  a  connection. 

13.  Quincy  and  St.  Louis  R.  R.     Prospective. 

Crossing  the  Mississippi  river,  north  of  St.  Louis,  the  first  road  we  meet  is 

14.  The  St.  Louis  and  Keokuk  R.  R.     Building. 
13.     The  North  Missouri  R.  R.     North  Branch. 

16.  The  North  Missouri  R.  R.     AVeet  Branch. 

17.  The  North  Missouri  and  St.  Joseph  R.  R.,  via  Hannibal  and  St.  Jo.  R.  R. 

18.  St.  Louis,  Chillicothe  and  Omaha  R.  R.     Building. 

19.  Missouri  Pacific  R.  R. 

Sedalia  and  Lexington  Branch  of  Mo.  Pacific. 
Sedalia  and  Ft.  Scott  Branch  of  Mo.  Pacific. 

20.  St.  Louis  and  Ft.  Scott  Air  Line  R.  R.     Prospective. 

21.  Southwest  Pacific  R.  R. 

22.  Iron  Mountain  R.  R.  to  Galveston  and  Mexico. 

23.  St.  Louis  and  Springfield,  Illinois.     Projected. 

24.  Illinois  Central  R.  R.     Running  through  trains  between  Chicago  and  St. 

Louis  and  St.  Louis  and  Dubuque,  using  the  Yandalia  line  to  come  into 
St.  Louis. 

Thus  wo  have  twenty-four  distinct  trunk  roads  converging  at  St.  Louis, 
nearly  every  one  of  which  is  built,  or  under  way  of  construction,  and  not  one 
will  be  abandoned.  No  other  city  on  the  couLinout  or  in  the  world  has  so 
many,  nor  is  it  likely  that  any  rival  place  will  ever  be  favored  with  so  great  a 
number.  I  have  neglected  to  place  on  the  list  several  local  and  connecting 
roads,  which  properly  belong  to  the  St.  Louis  system  and  are  valuable  feeders 
to  other  lines,  but  for  their  not  being  essentially  trunk  lines,  were  omitted. 
My  object  has  been  more  especially  to  show  that  St.  Louis  stands  in  the  center 
of  a  great  system  of  railways  and  navigable  rivers,  which  radiate  from  her  as 
a  focal  point  to  almost  every  extremity  of  the  countrj-,  touching  oceans,  lakes, 
and  seas,  and  uniting  the  civil,  social,  and  commercial  interests  of  a  conti- 
nental people,  as  well  as  creating  an  easy  exchange  for  the  fish,  fruits,  and 
other  products  of  antagonistic  climates. 


40  ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTUKE    GREAT    CITY. 

The  following  statement  of  distances  will  show  how  St.  Louis  stands  in 
relation  to  some  of  the  principal  cities  of  the  country,  as  well  as  to  our 
seaboard  markets. 

Places.                                                 Distance.  Places.                                                   Distance. 

From  St.  Louis  to —                                     Miles.  From  St.  Louis  to —                                    Miles. 

Boston,  via  rail 1200    New  Orleans,  via  rail 722 

New  York 1042     Galveston 787 

Philadelphia 974    San  Francisco 235R 

Baltimore 929    Denver  City 912 

Washington  City 951     Omaha 43S 

Eichmond 1096    Leavenworth 298 

Norfolk 117G     Chicago , 280 

Charleston 970     Cincinnati 340 

Savannah 960    Louisville 302 

Mobile 666    Indianapolis 238 

Kansas  City 272    Cairo 158 

Buflalo 704    Detroit 564 

Milwaukee 365    Pittsburgh 611 

In  submitting  this  statement  of  the  railway  system  of  St.  Louis,  its  mighty 
frame-work  and  net-work  which  ramifies  the  entire  Yalley  of  the  Mississippi, 
and  extends  its  Briarean  arms  to  each  ocean,  the  gulf  and  the  lakes,  and  holds 
in  its  grasp  the  empire  of  the  continent,  we  also  submit  that  in  the  mosli 
superlative  degree  does  St.  Louis  occupy  the  center  of  the  greatest  productive 
power,  as  well  as  the  greatest  center  of  river  navigation  afforded  on  th« 
globe ;  and  thus  uniting  the  greatest  means  with  the  greatest  facilities  that  the 
world  affords,  who,  with  a  just  comprehension  of  the  facts,  does  not  see  the 
truth  of  the  argument  in  favor  of  the  future  great  city  so  conclusively  as  to 
be  convinced  of  its  coi"rectness,  generations  in  advance  of  the  actual  existence 
of  the  city  itself?  But  this  vast  contribution  of  productive  power,  this  system 
of  river  navigation,  as  well  as  the  ever-expanding  railway  system,  has  a 
primary  meaning.  They  all  mean  and  foreshadow  generations  of  civil,  indus- 
trial, and  commercial  progress,  and  these  lead  to  a  consideration  of  a  new 


RAILWAY  POLICY    FOR   ST.    LOUIS, 

as  well  as  for  the  entire  West,  and  this  new  policy  means  nothing  more  nor 
less  than  a  "Western  railway  policy,  and  with  its  establishment  will  also  be 
organized  a  political  and  commercial  policy  for  the  West.  It  is  no  longer  the 
fact  that  the  great  States  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  are  commercial  or  political 
dependencies  to  the  cities  of  the  Atlantic  seaboard.  It  is  true  they  have 
political  and  commercial  interest  with  those  States  and  cities,  and  it  is  to  b© 
hoped  ever  will  have.  But  the  time  is  now  and  will  continue  henceforth,  long 
as  the  waters  run,  that  the  commercial  and  political  importance  of  the  Valley 
States  are  greater  than  those  of  either  seaboard,  and  therefore  they  must  bo 
the  dictators  of  such  political  and  commercial  policies  as  their  wisdom  and 
welfare  may  demand.  The  political  power  and  commerce  of  the  American 
people  have  spanned  the  continent,  and  from  the   Pacific   shore   civilization 


ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE   GREAT    CITY.  41 

re-acts  to  the  center,  where,  like  a  great  maelstrom,  sweeping  from  the  circum- 
ference to  the  center,  will  be  the  greatest  power  and  activity  of  our  people  in 
their  future  growth  and  struggle  for  gain. 

It  therefore  becomes  the  people  of  St.  Louis,  as  well  as  of  the  "West,  to 
establish  a  railway  policy  that  will  best  subserve  their  commercial  interest — a 
policy  that  will  create  an  exchange  of  Western  products  North  and  South, 
instead  of  allowing  them  to  be  carried  away  in  less  valuable  channels.  East 
and  West.  Nature  has  already  dictated  that  the  commerce  of  this  groat  valley 
must  follow  the  flow  of  the  waters  to  the  gulf,  and  there  seek  the  markets  of 
the  world  ;  and  those  of  the  West  who  do  not  already  comprehend  this  truth 
will  soon  learn  it  through  the  impoverished  railway  policy  that  is  rapidly 
binding  them  to  the  East,  as  the  Philistines  bound  Samson. 

St.  Louis  must  make  a  bold  stand  for  a  railway  policy  that  will  cause  the 
exchange  of  the  products  of  the  Valley  States  North  and  South — exchange 
them  between  the  lakes  and  the  gulf — between  climates,  and  not  along  parallel 
lines  of  longitude.  St.  Louis  wants  the  tTade  of  the  tropics  and  the  trade  of  the 
North.  She  must  have  a  railway  policy  that  will  establish  this  trade,  and  make 
her  the  point  of  exchange  between  the  two  climates. 

By  the  new  railway  line  now  projected,  via  Iron  Mountain,  Fulton  and 
Galveston  Railroad,  which  is  under  way  of  construction,  the  gulf  can  be 
reached  at  a  distance  of  787  miles.  When  this  road  is  completed  it  will  be  of 
vastly  more  value  to  St.  Louis  than  any  other  road  that  reaches  her,  and  its 
completion  will  open  the  way  for  that  policy  for  North  and  South  exchange 
which  must  be  established  in  the  interest  of  the  trade  of  the  Valley  States. 

In  the  interest  of  the  especial  climatic  trade  and  postal  service  of  the  people 
between  the  lakes  and  the  gulf,  it  is  highly  probable  that  a  project  will,  in  the 
course  of  ten  years,  be  set  on  foot  to  construct  a  pneumatic  tube  from  Chicago, 
via  St.  Louis,  to  New  Orleans.  The  postal  patronage,  together  with  the  fish 
and  fruit  trade,  would  well  nigh,  if  not  wholly,  repay  for  its  construction. 


43  ST.    LOUIS,    THE  FUTURE   GREAT    CITY. 

'/    LIBKAllY   ^ 

UNIVEKSITV   OF 

CALTFOIJNIA.^ 

POPULATION   CONSIDERED. 


The  material  growth  of  St.  Louis,  from  its  foundation  by  Pierre  Laclede 
Liguest,  on  the  15th  day  of  February,  1764,  will  ever  furnish  a  historical 
lesson  of  varied  interest  to  those  who  now  and  henceforth  enroll  themselves 
among  its  inhabitants. 

"  In  1790  a  St.  Louis  merchant  was  a  man  who,  in  the  corner  of  his  cabin,  had 
a  large  chest  which  contained  a  few  pounds  of  powder  and  shot,  a  few 
knives  and  hatchets,  a  little  red  paint,  two  or  three  rifles,  some  hunting  shirts 
of  buckskin,  a  few  tin  cups  and  iron  pots,  and  perhaps  a  little  tea,  coffee, 
Bugar  and  spice.  There  was  no  post-office,  no  ferry  over  the  river,  no  news- 
paper." From  its  foundation  to  the  date  of  the  Louisiana  purchase,  in  1804, 
but  little  change  was  made  in  the  character  of  its  social  society  and  industrial 
interests.  The  ruder  and  rougher  forms  of  life  were  everywhere  impressed 
upon  the  society  of  her  people,  and  marked  the  growth  of  an  infant  city 
destined  to  be  the  future  capital  of  the  United  States  and  the  great  city  of  the 
world.  The  Louisiana  purchase  at  once  fixed  not  only  the  destiny  of  the 
nation,  but  also  of  St.  Louis.  A  change  in  the  title  of  the  land  wrought  a 
change  in  her  material  growth  and  prosperity.  A  newspaper  was  established 
in  1808;  in  1809  fire  companies  were  organized;  in  1810  there  were  road- 
masters,  who  had  power  to  compel  the  requisite  labor  on  the  highways;  in 
1811  two  schools  were  established,  one  English,  the  other  French;  in  the  same 
year  a  market-house  was  built,  and  prosperity  gradually  awakened  new  life  in 
the  place,  and  pointed  to  a  future  full  of  hope. 

A  record  of  the  population  of  St.  Louis  began  to  date  in  the  year  1764,  a 
little  more  than  one  hundred  years  ago,  and  the  succeeding  increase  at  different 
periods  is  shown  by  the  following  statement : 


Population.  Tears.  Population. 
120  1333 6,397 

687  1835 8,31S 

897  1837 12.040 

1,197  1840 16,469 

925  1844 84,140 

~ 1,400  1850 74,439 

4,928  1852 94,000 

~  5,000  1856 125,200 

■ 5,852  1860 160,773 

1870 312,960 

Dr.  Scott,  in  fixing  the  annual  average  growth  of  cities,  estimated  that  of 
St.  Louis,  previous  to  1860,  to  be  at  an  annual  average  rate  of  8  per  cent. 


Tears. 
1764..., 
1780..., 
1785..., 
1788..,, 
1799... 
1811..., 
1820... 
1828..., 
1830..., 


^  /tv^o■^ 


L^. 


8T.    LOUIS,   THE   FUTURE   GKEAT   CITY.  48 

But  by  the  rapid  change  which  has  so  recently  swept  over  the  country — abolishing 
ulavery  and  equaliring  labor  alike  in  all  sections  of  the  country,  and  founding 
our  prosperity  alone  upon  the  advantages  which  God  has  fixed  throughout  tho 
land — St.  Louis,  in  spite  of  the  terrible  ravages  of  four  years  of  devastating 
^ar,  has  grown  into  the  ascendency,  during  the  last  ton  years,  at  an  annual 
average  rate  of  a  little  more  than  nine  per  cent.  But,  if  we  allow  a  discount 
of  two  per  cent,  for  decimations  during  the  four  years  of  war,  we  must,  to  attain 
to  the  present  population  of  the  city,  have  well  nigh  increased  annually  at  the 
rate  of  twelve  per  cent,  since  tho  war.  This  would  almost  equal  ^he  increase 
of  Chicago  in  the  days  of  her  precocious  growth.  In  fact,  St.  Louis  has  to-day, 
notwithstanding  the  vigilance  of  the  United  States  Marshal  in  taking  the 
census,  not  less  than  315,000  citizens  within  her  corporate  limits;  and  it 
requires  but  a  slight  analysis  in  the  discussion  to  establish  the  fact  that  St.  Louis 
is  a  much  larger  city  than  Chicago.  Aside  from  the  facts  which  tho  United 
States  census  has  established  for  both  cities,  we  have  only  to  refer  to  the 
extent  of  area  within  the  corporate  limits  of  each  of  the  cities  to  establish 
beyond  a  question  of  doubt  tho  superiority  of  St.  Louis  over  Chicago.  Th« 
facts  are  these : 

Incorporate  limits.  Area  of  square  mil'!^'}.  Pop.  in  1S70. 

St.  Louis - 19  9-10  312,9^)0 

Chicago - 34J       297,718 

These  figures  show  Chicago  to  exceed  St.  Louis  more  than  fourteen  and  one- 
half  square  miles  in  the  area  of  her  corporate  limits — nearly  double — and  yet 
fall  short  in  population  about  l.^OOO;  and  with  an  extension  of  the  city  of 
St.  Louis  so  as  to  equal  Chicago,  St.  Louis  would  contain  at  least  325,000,  and 
25,000  more  than  Chicago.  Be  it  remembered  that  Carondelet,  containing 
about  five  square  miles,  is  included  in  the  nineteen  and  nine-tenths  square 
miles  comprising  the  present  city  limits  of  St.  Louis — tho  old  city  limits 
including  only  a  fraction  more  than  fourteen  square  miles.  But  there  is  still 
another  view  in  the  argument.  St.  Louis  is  a  much  older  city  than  Chicago,  and, 
as  a  consequence  of  her  growth  and  wealth,  far  more  of  her  business  men,  with 
their  families,  live  in  suburban  places,  as  the  facts  will  demonstrate.  Kirkwood, 
of  about  3,000  inhabitants,  is  made  up  wholly  of  citizens  who  in  some  way  do 
business  in  St.  Louis.  Webster  is  the  same  way.  Many  live  down  the  Iron 
Mountain  railroad,  at  St.  Charles,  at  Alton,  at  Lebanon,  at  Belleville,  and  East 
St.  Louis — thus  establishing,  bej'ond  any  question  of  doubt,  St.  Louis  to  be 
the  third  city  on  the  American  continent,  and  the  imperial  city  of  the  great 
States  of  the  Mississippi  Yalley  j  and  if  Chicago  would  bo  a  modern  Carthage 
in  industry  and  art,  St.  Louis  will  be  a  modern  Babylon  in  commerce,  skill 
and  greatness,  vieing  for  the  rich  trophies  of  the  world. 

In  tho  discussion  of  this  part  of  tho  subject,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that, 
in  the  past,  St.  Louis,  in  establishing  her  increase  at  eight  per  cent,  per  annum, 
had  many  adverse  interests  to  contend  against,  which  impedod  her  growth  and 
retarded  her  progress.  She  is  now  for  the  first  time  entering  upon  a  ne\T 
career  of  growth  and  prosperity.  She  is  untrammeled.  Advantages  of  every 
kind  surround  her  with  prodigal  profuseness.     Henceforth  her  future  advance 


44  ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE    GREAT    CITY. 

ment  cannot  be  gauged  or  measured  by  the  past,  and  instead  of  an  annual  growth 
of  eight  per  cent.,  she  will  move  forward  at  the  rate  of  at  least  ten  per  cent. 
for  the  next  decade.  This  we  assume  with  the  full  assurance  of  being  supported 
by  the  facts  of  the  future,  at  least  for  twenty  years  to  come.  But,  as  it  is  well 
known  that  cities  have  a  rapid  or  slower  growth  in  the  long  run,  varying 
according  to  the  eras  or  transitions  through  which  nations  must  inevitably 
pass,  thereby  rendering  it  impossible  to  fix  a  uniform  standard  of  growth,  wo 
assume  the  following  figures  to  be  as  near  the  range  of  a  reasonable  possibility, 
or  at  least  for  a  few  succeeding  decades,  as  the  best  judgment  could  dictate  in 
advance  of  the  facts  which  time  and  other  generations  will  demonstrate. 

Starting  with  the  present  population,  as  given  by  the  United  States  census, 
we  submit  the  following  figures  as  showing  the  probable  prospective  growth  of 
St.  Louis  : 

Population  of  St.  Louis  in  1870,  per  United  States  census , 312,963 

Population  increased  at  the  rate  of  10  per  cent  per  annum  to  1880. 811,74*i 

9        "  "  1890.   1,917,571 

"  6        "  "  1900 8,4(;4,079 

"  4        "  "  1910 5,083,297 

«'  "  "  3        "  "  1920 6,831,502 

"  "  "  3        "  "  1930 9,180,967 

«*  "  «  2         "  "  1940 11,192,633 

««  "  "  2        "  "  1950 13,643,757 

*«  "  «  1        «  "  I960.. 15,071,194 

"  1        "  "  1970 16,647,941 

Notwithstanding  the  apparent  correctness  of  the  percentage  of  growth 
given  above,  it  is  not  probable  that  either  St.  Louis  or  any  other  city  of  this 
earth  will  ever  grow  to  such  an  enormous  size  as  to  contain  at  any  time  a 
population  so  numerous.  We  therefore  submit  the  figures,  and  leave  them 
for  others  to  analyze  and  criticise.  We,  however,  with  confidence  predict  that 
St.  Louis,  in  1880,  will  not  contain  less  than  800,000  inhabitants,  and  from 
100,000  to  200,000  more  than  Chicago.  Thus'  fixing  her  at  that  time  the 
second  city  on  the  continent,  and,  in  1890,  the  first;  and  in  less  than  one 
hundred  years,  the  solution  of  our  problem — the  great  city  of  the  world. 
There  are  those,  no  doubt,  who  will  regard  the  prediction  for  1880  as  reaching 
beyond  the  bounds  of  possibility;  but  not  so.  Let  those  object  who  are  over- 
cautious and  in  ignorance  of  the  under-life  developments  of  our  continental 
country,  or  envious  of  the  prosperity  of  a  rival  city.  There  is  no  monopoly  in 
progress,  none  in  industry,  none  in  intellect ;  they  are  gifts  alike  to  all  who, 
under  the  rule  of  God,  toil  in  righteousness.  Civilization  in  the  nineteenth 
century  is  not  walled  in.  It  is  the  free  heritage  of  the  great  family  of  man, 
continental,  national  and  individual.  Nations  and  States  are  born  under  its 
peaceful  supervision  as  new  heralds  of  man's  rising  and  progressive  life  ;  and 
great  cities,  like  stars  that  begem  the  skies,  will  adorn  our  republic  under  its 
higher  administration,  and  be  as  fine  jewels  set  in  the  crown  of  the  imperial 
nation  of  the  earth. 

In  considering  the  probabilities  of  the  rapid  growth  of  St.  Louis  in  the 
future,  it  is  well  to  consider  how  strongly  the  rapid  growth  of  the  great  Valley 
States  which  surround  her  on  every  side,  bear  upon  the  subject.     During  the 


ST.    LOUIS,    TUli   FUTURE   GIlEAT   CITY.  45 

decade  intervening  between  the  years  1850  and  1860,  the  growth  of  Illinois  was 
more  than  100  percent. — more  than  doubling  her  entire  population  in  ten  years. 
The  increase  of  Indiana  was  more  than  thirty-six  per  cent.  Iowa  and  Kansas 
have  increased  with  greater  rapidity,  and  the  census  of  the  present  year  will 
show  Missouri  to  have  more  than  doubled  her  population  since  the  census  of 
1860.  Arkansas  and  other  new  regions  will  soon  bo  enrolled  as  prosperous 
members  with  their  sisters  of  the  great  Yalley  States,  and  the  rapid  increase 
in  the  population  of  kindred  States  cannot  fail  to  be  a  favorable  index  to  the 
growth  of  St.  Louis.  Taking  it  as  a  primary  truth  that  the  growth  of  a  city, 
or  at  least  an  inland  city,  depends  much  upon  the  growth  of  the  surrounding 
country-,  we  may  be  sure  that  St.  Louis  is  highly  favored  in  this  way. 

\Vc  may  safely  assume  that  for  the  next  thousand  years,  or  nearly  so,  the 
cities  of  the  world  will  grow  to  be  much  larger  than  they  have  in  the  past, 
and  that  St.  Louis  will  reach  a  population  ranging  from  5,000,000  to  10,000,000, 
and  with  a  probability  of  going  beyond  these  figures  within  the  next  one 
hundred  and  fifty  years.  In  less  than  fifty  years  London  will  cease  to  grow, 
and  quite  likely  Paris.  Civilization  in  the  Old  World  will  soon  begin  to  re-cast 
itself  in  the  farther  east,  and  Kome  will  yet,  under  ^  new  government  and 
more  advanced  civilization,  become  the  imperial  city  of  the  trans-Atlantic 
world.  In  less  than  one  hundred  years  New  York  will  cease  to  grow,  and, 
adjusted  to  a  now  oi'dor  of  the  world's  commerce  and  civilization,  the  struggle 
for  the  future  great  city  of  the  world  will  be  between  competitors  many  of 
which  are  not  now  in  the  race.  In  less  than  one  hundred  years  St.  Louis  will 
move  forward  in  the  advance  in.  the  majestic  march  of  the  cities  of  the  world 
to  her  predestined  goal  of  victor  in  the  great  race. 

What  new  agencies  the  arts  and  sciences  may  yet  call  into  existence  that 
will  have  an  important  bearing  upon  the  distribution  or  concentration  of  the 
people,  is  difficult  to  tell.  We  may  reasonably  expect  that  in  less  than  fifty 
years  both  the  storms  and  the  rains  will  be  controlled  by  science,  and  the 
people  can  call  the  winds  and  the  rain  at  their  pleasure;  that  transportation 
by  moans  of  pneumatic  tubes,  as  well  as  aerial  navigation,  will  be  introduced 
into  practical  use,  which,  together  with  cheaper  freights  and  more  rapid  travel 
on  railroads,  will  exert  a  powerful  influence  upon  the  future  interests  and 
civilization  of  the  world's  people.  How  far  such  contributions  by  science  and 
art  will  tend  to  more  readily  satisfying  the  business  interests  and  wants  of  the 
people,  so  as  to  tend  to  a  dispersion  rather  than  a  concentration,  must  be  left 
for  actual  experience  to  demonstrate.  We  may  assume,  however,  that  neither 
Bcienco  nor  art  can  very  soon  contribute  anything  that  will  prevent  capital 
and  monopoly  from  concentrating  people  as  well  as  public  interests. 

The  marvelous  growth  of  cities  is  well  established  by  the  facts  of  the  follow- 
ing table,  taken  from  the  New  York  Tribune: 

"  Thirty-eight  years  ago,  there  were  thirteen  European  cities  having  larger 
populations  than  New  York ;  now  there  are  only  three,  and  these  have  been 
capitals  for  centuries.  The  table  which  follows  gives  the  population  of  the 
fifteen  largest  European  cities  in  1832  and  18'59,  and  their  respective  rate  of 
increase.     In  comparing  New  York  we  quote  the  censuses  of  1S30  and  1870  :" 


46  ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTUKE   OKEAT    CITY. 

Increate 

1SS2.  1069.      percent. 

London 1,624,000  3,214,000          98 

Constantinople 1,000,000  1,500,000          60 

Paris 890,000  1,950,000  118 

New  York..'. ~     197,092  924,313  368 

St  Pelersbur- ■ 480,000  667,000          37 

Naples 358,000  600,000          67 

Vienna 310,000  640,000  107 

Dublin o «     300,000  362,000          21 

Moscow 280,000  420,000          50 

Berlin 250,000  800,000  220 

Lisbon .- 240,000  340,000          44 

Manchester , - 288,000  350,000          49 

Amsterdam 230,000  250,000          12 

Glasgow ~     202,000  401,000         99 

Liverpool 190,000  620,000  174 

Madrid -     190,000  890,000  105 

It  is  evident  from  the  above  figures  that  modern  civilization,  on  account  of 
its  greater  protection  of  human  life,  enables  a  more  rapid  growth  to  the  citie* 
of  our  own  time  than  was  experienced  by  the  cities  of  the  ancients.  In  fact, 
monopoly  has  always  bean  a  rule  of  the  human  race ;  and  whatever  improve- 
ment or  art  that  contributed  to  man's  welfare,  also  contributed  to  his  monopo- 
lizing tendencies,  and  therefore  to  the  more  rapid  and  numerous  building  up  of 
great  cities.  It  remains  for  time  alone  to  change  this  rule  of  monopoly,  if  it 
is  to  be  changed  at  all,  and  man  dispersed  to  rural  life.  As  for  me,  give  m« 
the  great  city,  where  man's  master-works  are  reared  —  where  great  men  and 
women  attract  and  are  attracted. 

"  Let  poets  sing  of  rural  felicity,  of  flowing  brooks  and  singing  birds,  and  so 
forth;  but  give  us  the. surging  of  the  city's  life,  the  unspeakable  rapture  of 
being  surrounded  by  the  heart-beats  of  humanity.  We  love  mankind  mor« 
than  birds  or  brooks.  The  prattle  of  the  school-yard  is  sweeter  to  us  than  a 
forest  full  of  orioles,  and  the  refined  face  of  woman  a  fairer  sight  to  look  upon 
than  all  the  rocks  that  ever  scowled  from  mountain  fastnesses.  The  solituda 
of  being  among  woods,  and  looking  forever  on  the  stars  and  listening  to 
brooks  and  birds,  would  drive  on©  mad;  but  the  very  thought  of  being 
iurrounded  by  one's  kind,  and  listening  to  the  melody  flowing  up  from  th« 
great  heart  of  the  city,  makes  our  garret  a  palace." 

The  great  cities  of  the  world  will  continue  to  grow  in  the  future  for  fivt 
hundred  or  a  thousand  years,  until  civilization  and  republicanism  shall  hav« 
exhausted  themselves  in  a  final  culmination  of  individualism,  or  stealing,  by 
the  human  race,  and  the  inauguration  of  a  new  and  truer  government  and 
society — a  society  and  government  of  unity  and  universality,  which,  in  the 
very  nature  of  their  organizations,  will  tend  to  diffusion,  and  be  adverse  to 
monopoly,  and  consequently  adverse  to  the  building  of  great  cities. 

But  to  return,  St.  Louis  in  her  future  growth  will  be  supported  largely  by 
her  suburban  towns,  which  will  'stand  as  jewels  in  the  crown  of  the  great  city, 
as  they  are  to  be  seen  in  embryo  on  the  map  representing  the  area  withia 


ST.    LOUIS,    TUE   FDTUKE   GREAT    CITY.  4T 

which  tho  destined  city  now  Btanda.  On  the  east  side  of  the  river,  and  lying 
within  a  circle  of  sixty  miles  diameter,  and  with  St.  Louis  for  its  center,  are 
the  following  towns,  with  their  present  population  : 

Thwna.  Population.  Towns.  Population. 

East  St  Louis » 5,648  Shiloh 260 

Venice 2,000  Mascoutah - ~ 2,800 

AMon ...10,000  Freeburg 1,000 

Belleville ...10,000  Waterloo 2,000 

Edwardsville 8,000  Columbia ^ ». .-  1,600 

Monticello ^..~* ► 1,000  St  Jacobs ~ ~     600 

Marinelown 800  Mitchell ..     108 

Lebanon 8,000  Centreville 2,200 

Troy ^ 1,500  Prairie  du  Pont 60 

Collinsville 1,500  Cahokia. 1,600 

Greenwood ., ^ COO  Pittsburg -      600 

Caseyville ~ 250  Henrysville « 6* 

O'Fallon 675  Smithton 860 


Total  BUburban  population  on  east  side  of  the  river ^..52,776 

The  suburban  towns,  and  their  population  on  the  west  side  of  tho  river,  and 
within  the  circle,  are  as  follows : 

Toxons.  Population.  Toxons.  Population. 

St  Chnrlps ^ 7,000  Baldwin 800 

llock  Springs »  1,000  Eureka -     800 

EUeardvillo 8,000  Allenton 200 

Lowell .«  1,000  Floris85vnt ». « ...^..^..  1,500 

Kirkwood »  2,500  Georgetown « (JO 

Webster »  2,000  Linton 76 

Bridgton 700  Glencoe 60 

Manchester 600  Black  Jack -     400 

Baden 1,600 

Total  population 22,486 

Add  those  numbers,  with  those  who  live  in  the  country,  to  onr  city  population, 
and  we  have  well  nigh  500,000  people  residing  upon  the  area  of  country 
represented  by  the  map ;  and  it  will  not  require  many  years  to  pass  away 
before  500,000  people  will  do  business  within  the  corporate  limits  of  St.  Louis, 
and  yet  reside,  with  their  families,  at  a  distance  from  the  city.  Trains  will 
soon  run  upon  our  railroads  at  the  rate  of  sixty  miles  an  hour,  and  at  very 
greatly  reduced  rates.  This  will  afford  advantages  and  opportunity  for 
cheaper  living  in  tho  country,  as  well  as  bettor  living  to  many.  And  wo  may 
safely  assume  that  when  St.  Louis  reaches  a  population  of  5,000,000  to 
10,000,000,  that,  in  unity  with  tho  growth  of  her  suburban  tows,  she  will 
occupy,  in  many  directions,  the  country  reaching  to  tho  extremity  of  the  map ; 
and  in  the  future,  it  will  not  be  uncommon  to  find  streets  of  the  finest  char- 
acter fifteen  and  twenty  miles  long,  well  paved  and  lighted  with  gas,  streeta 
more  splendid  than  those  once  so  beautiful  and  wonderful  in  Cordova.     Then, 


48  ST.    LOUIS,    THE  FUTURE   GREAT   CITY. 

looking  through  the  future  to  the  wonderful  growth  which  will  be  spread  ont 
in  and  around  this  great  city,  may  we  not  anxiously  inquire  with  the  poet — 

"Who'll  throng  these  streets,  in  eager  haste, 

One  hundred  years  from  now  ? 
****** 
"  Who  will  be  those  patriots  brave, 

To  guard  our  flag  o'er  land  and  wave, 

One  hundred  years  from  now  1" 


THB    GEOGRAPHICAL,   GEOLOGICAL     AND    TOPOGRAPHICAL    SITUATION    OP    THE    CITY 

OP   ST.    LOUIS. 

The  city  of  St.  Louis  is  situated,  geographically,  very  nearly  in  the  center  of 
the  great  Valley  of  the  Mississippi,  or  basin  of  the  continent,  on  the  west 
bank  of  the  Mississippi  river,  and  about  half  way  between  St.  Paul  and  New 
Orleans,  and  Pittsburg  and  Denver  City. 

The  topography  of  St.  Louis  county  consists  of  a  system  of  ridges  branching 
from  a  water-shed  between  the  Missouri,  Meraraec  and  Mississippi  rivers.  This 
water-shed  has  a  general  altitude  of  two  hundred  feet  above  the  Mississippi 
river,  and  has  numerous  small  ridges  or  arms  branching  from  it  and  winding 
in  serpentine  courses,  and  maintaining  this  general  altitude  along  their  summits, 
and  terminating  in  bluffs  or  low  escarpments  and  declining  grounds  towards 
the  Meramec,  Missouri,  and  Mississippi  rivers. 

The  city  is  built  geographically  on  the  ends  or  termination  of  this  ridge 
system,  and  extends  some  twelve  miles  up  and  down  the  river,  the  ground 
rising  gently  from  the  river  back  for  one  mile  to  Seventeenth  street,  which 
follows  in  part  the  apex  of  the  first  ridge,  and  is  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet 
above  the  river.  The  ground  then  gently  declines,  and  rises  in  a  second  ridgo 
at  Twenty-fifth  street,  or  Jefferson  avenue,  and  parts  of  Grand  avenue,  and 
again  slopes  and  rises  in  a  ridge  at  Cote  Brilliante,  or  Wilson's  Hill,  four 
miles  west  of  the  river.  This  point  is  some  two  hundred  feet  above  the  river, 
and  overlooks  the  city. 

Looking  at  the  topography  of  the  site  which  St.  Louis  now  occupies,  the 
observer  will  be  most  intensely  impressed  with  the  thought  that  nature  in  her 
immutable  decrees  had  ordained,  from  the  beginning,  that  here  she  laid  the 
foundation  for  a  great  city  —  the  future  imperial  city  of  the  world.  Nor  are  the 
character  and  superiority  of  the  land  circumscribed  by  the  present  city  limits— 
not  at  all.  The  same  beauty  in  the  general  formation  and  adaptability  of  the 
ground  for  building  purposes,  and  the  consequent  expansion  of  the  city, 
extends  back  in  every  way  from  the  river  for  an  indefinite  distance,  and  with 
still  greater  advantages  for  building  purposes  as  we  advance  into  the  country. 

The  geological  formation  of  St.  Louis  county  is  limestone,  shales,  and  sand- 
stones of  the  coal  measures,  these  being  covered  with  alluvial  clays  from  ten 
to  twenty  feet  deep,  making  the  contour  of  the  ridges  wavy  and  dividino-  tho 


8T.    LOUIS,    TUE   FUTURE    GREAT    CITY.  49 

country  into  rich  roUinf;  prairie,  from  ono  to  two  hundred  feot  above  the  rivers, 
and  bordered  with  belts  and  groves  of  black  and  white  oak  woods;  and  the 
country  shows  many  substantial  brick  mansions,  highly-cultivated  farms,  vino- 
yards,  orchards,  meadows,  slopes — forming  the  most  natural  grounds  for  build- 
ing purposes  found  in  any  part  of  our  'country.  Viewing  this  rolling  prairie, 
with  all  its  wealth  of  alluvial  soil,  its  contour  of  ridgo  and  valley,  its  springs 
and  meandering  streams,  it  seems  as  if  the  laws  of  nature  had  here  amassed 
their  wealth,  and  centralized  the  material  resources  to  supply  the  wants  of  a 
dense  and  wealthy  population  ;  and,  not  being  content  with  this  wealth  of  soil 
and  art  on  the  surface,  had  underlaid  a  large  part  of  this  area  with  coal  veins, 
St.  Louis  county  containing  an  undeveloped  coal  basin  of  over  10,000  acres. 

While  New  York  is  limited  to  a  barren,  rocky  island,  Philadelphia  to  a  low 
ridge  between  the  Delaware  and  Schuylkill  rivers,  "Washington  City  to  a  flat, 
sterile,  uninteresting  region,  Chicago  to  land  from  five  to  fifteen  feet  above 
Lake  Michigan,  and  swampy  prairie  beyond,  Cincinnati  to  a  small  circuit 
surrounded  by  steep,  rocky  hills,  St.  Louis  has  the  most  natural  con- 
tour of  surface  for  elevation  of  residence  streets  —  deep  clay  over  the  lime- 
stone for  brick,  cellars,  sewerage,  and  foundations,  quarries  of  building  rock 
in  all  parts  of  the  city,  wells  of  pure  water  in  the  deep  clays  in  many  parts  of 
the  city,  natural  sewerage  and  dome-shaped  hills  for  waterworks,  and  essen- 
tially combining  all  the  material  resources  for  a  groat  city.  London  and  Paris 
are  built  upon  tertiary  basins,  where  the  soil  is  thin  and  rocks  generally  too  soft 
for  good  building  material.  Grand  avenue  is  twelve  miles  long,  running 
parallel  with  the  river,  and  forming  a  grand  broadway  from  the  north  to  the 
•outh  end  of  the  city,  and  is  destined  in  the  future,  with  its  fair-grounds,  its 
great  parks,  cathedrals,  churches,  waterworks,  'and  private  residences,  to  be 
the  boulevard  of  the  Western  continent.  And  yet,  when  this  has  been  said, 
we  have  but  commenced  to  tell  of  tho  wonders  of  a  city  destined  in  the  future 
to  equal  London  in  its  population,  Athens  in  its  philosophy,  art  and  culture, 
Rome  in  its  hotels,  cathedrals,  churches  and  grandeur,  and  to  be  the  central 
commercial  metropolis  of  a  continent. 

It  may  bo  asked,  how  shall  we  have  cognizance  of  the  laws  to  give  as  faith 
in  this  being  accomplished?  Go,  then,  in  imagination,  ninety  miles  south  of 
the  city,  over  the  railroad  to  tho  Iron  Mountains,  whore  is  stored  above  the 
level  of  the  valleys,  iron  ore  sufficient  to  supply  the  wants  of  a  densely- 
populated  continent.  One  thousand  tons  of  this  ore  now  comes  daily,  over  a 
down  grade  of  seven  hundred  feot,  to  St.  Louis.  In  another  year  a  double- 
track  railroad  will  bo  needed.  Flanking  this  iron  system  is  10,000,000  acres  of 
iron,  lead,  copper,  zinc,  antimony,  nickel,  tin,  silver  and  gold  rogioHs;  west  of 
this  is  another  10,000,OUO  acres,  including  Southwest  Missouri,  being  fields 
of  similar  ores,  and  part  coal.  This,  you  will  bear  in  mind,  is  south  of  tho  city. 
Now,  let  us  look  east.  The  four  groat  trunk  railroads  leading  east  at  ten 
miles  from  the  city  reach  the  coal  measures,  run  each  over  two  hundred  milos 
of  the  groat  Illinois  coal  basin,  where  five  or  six  coal  veins  are  piled  one  vein 
above  the  other.  To  the  north  this  same  coal  system  is  found,  and  all  the 
railroads  in  North  Missouri  are  crossing  more  or  less  over  coal  veins.  To  the 
0 


50  ST.    LOUIS,   THE   FUTUKE   GREAT   CITY. 

West,  the  great  trunk  Pacific  railroad,  beyond  Jefferson  City,  crosses  over  vast 
coal-fields,  Kansas  City  being  built  centrally  in  this  great  field. 

Coal  and  iron  are  the  bones  and  sinews  of  the  most  powerful  of  modem 
nations.  Lead,  zinc,  and  copper  add  strength.  In  the  future,  the  country  to 
pay  tribute  to  this  center  are  the  vast*  cotton-fields  of  the  lower  Mississippi, 
the  grain-growing  regions  of  the  North  and  West,  the  argentiferous  and 
auriferous  belts  of  Colorad©  and  Montana. 

St.  Louis,  like  ancient  Eorae,  once  with  its  10,000,000  population,  is  destined 
to  be  flanked  and  surrounded  with  a  galaxy  or  cordon  of  continental  cities. 
Memphis,  Kansas  City,  St.  Joseph,  Leavenworth,  Dubuque,  Keokuk,  Daven- 
port, Jacksonville,  Springfield,  Terre  Haute,  and  Indianapolis  are  a  part  of 
these  satellites  that  in  the  future  are  to  pay  tribute  to  this  center— taking 
in  view  the  fact  of  their  vast  material  resources,  and  these  being  the  center  of 
the  great  fruit,  agricultural  and  wine  belt  of  the  continent. 

The  people,  the  Teutonic  and  Celtic  races,  are  the  pioneer  people  in  all  th« 
departments  of  human  industry,  politics,  culture,  theology.  We  apprehend 
that  the  most  acute  vision,  even  were  that  mind  in"  harmony  with  the  spirit  of 
the  times,  and  enabled  through  that  means  to  look  back  through  the  dim 
geologic  history  of  the  past,  when  the  economic  laws  were  piling  the  iron, 
atom  by  atom,  in  these  iron  mountains,  growing  the  dense  flora  of  the  coal 
plants,  repleting  the  veins  of  lead,  zinc,  copper,  tin,  silver  and  gold,  and  at  th« 
same  time  comprehend  the  ridge,  valley,  spring,  prairie,  timber  and  river 
systems,  and  was  enabled  to  go  back  in  the  ethnography  and  heraldry  of  these 
populations,  and  could  fuse  these  elements  or  facts  in  the  future,  and  at  the 
same  time  realize  the  grandeur  of  the  empires  of  the  past  —  the  Persian, 
under  Cyrus ;  the  Macedonian,  under  Alexander  the  Great ;  the  Eoman,  under 
the  Eepublic  and  the  twelve  Csesars  —  that  the  truth  would  be  forced  upon  the 
mind,  that  in  the  future  this  great  Valley  of  the  Mississippi  will  include  the 
center  of  an  empire,  before  which,  in  wealth,  power  and  grandeur,  all  these  shall 
pale ;  that  St.  Louis,  sitting  like  a  Queen  on  the  banks  of  the  great  Father  of 
Waters,  will  be  the  central  city  of  this  people,  the  tidal  waves  of  whose 
civilization  will  roll  to  China  and  Japan  on  the  west,  and  to  the  Bosphorus  on 
the  east ;  and  with  her  continental  railroad  system,  her  telegraphs  over 
mountains  and  under  oceans,  her  vast  water  communication,  will  radiate  law 
and  order,  and  become  the  leading  national,  mining,  and  commercial  metropolia 
of  the  Western  hemisphere. 

St.  Louis,  though  in  its  infancy,  is  already  a  large  city.  Its  length  is  about 
twelve  miles,  and  its  width  from  four  to  five.  Suburban  residences,  the  outr 
posts  of  the  grand  advance,  are  now  stationed  six  and  eight  miles  from  the 
river,  and  will  soon  be  twenty.  In  1865,  the  real  and  personal  property  of  the 
city  was  assessed  at  100,000,000,  and  in  1866  at  126,877,000.  These  figures,  as 
■well  as  the  present  assessment,  8147,968,070,  are  understood  by  our  city 
officials  to  be  much  below  the  real  value  of  the  city. 

St.  Louis  is  a  well-built  city,  but  its  architecture  is  more  substantial  than 
showy.  The  wide,  well-paved  streets,  the  spacious  levee  and  commodiou* 
warehouses;    the   mills,  machine   shops   and   manufactories;   the  fine  hotels, 


ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE   GKEAT    CITY.  61 

•hurches,  and  public  buildings ;  tho  universities,  charitable  institutions,  public 
ichools  and  libraries,  the  growing  parks,  the  well-improved  and  uncqualed  fair- 
grounds, and  Mr.  Shaw's  jewel  of  a  garden,  which  is  by  far  the  grvrden  of  the 
continent,  constitute  an  array  of  excellencies  and  attractions  of  which  any 
•ity  may  justly  be  proud.  The  appearance  of  Si.  Louis  from  the  eastern  bank 
of  the  Mississippi  is  impressive.  At  East  St.  Louis  the  eye  sometimes  com- 
mands a  view  of  one  hundred  steamboats  lying  at  our  levea.  A  mile  and  a 
*  half  of  steamboats  lying  at  the  wharf  of  a  city  1,000  miles  from  the  ocean,  ia 
the  heart  of  a  continent,  is  a  spectacle  which  naturally  inspires  largo  views  of 
•ommercial  greatness.  The  sight  of  our  levee,  thronged  with  busy  merchants 
«nd  covered  with  the  commodities  of  every  clime,  from  the  peltries  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains  to  the  teas  of  China,  does  not  tend  to  lessen  the  magnitude 
•f  the  impression. 

These  thoughts  of  the  growth  and  commerce  of  St.  Louis  could  easily  be 
extended  to  a  discussion  of  the  wealth  and  industry  of  our  continent,  but  tho 
amplification  would  be  of  no  avail  to  a  people  whose  minds,  like  their  eyes,  are 
■o  accustomed  to  range  over  large  extents,  and  are  not  content  to  eit  dowa 
after  having  acquired  a  little  power. 


Note. — While  this  work  is  written  in  the  especial  interest  of  St  Louis,  it  is  not  meant  to  cast 
«  selfish  or  disparaging  reflection  upon  Chicago,  or  any  other  city  on  the  American  continent,  or 
ki  tho  world.  In  fact,  in  a  broader  and  higher  sense,  it  indicates  a  grander  growth  for  the  entire 
American  nation  than  is  ordinarily  conceived.  It  indicates  a  final  organization  of  the  world'* 
■wealth,  industry  and  civilization,  so  aa  to  foreshadow  a  better  time  for  the  world's  people. 
It  is  not  in  my  nature  to  be  jealous  or  envious  of  tho  growth  and  prosperity  of  any  place  or 
people;  on  the  other  hand,  I  am  proud  of  Chicago.  She  is  the  great  city  of  my  native  State — a 
State  born  under  tha  influence  of  an  ordinance  wide-reaching  and  beneficent  in  its  influence — an 
•rdi nance  akin  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  the  Constitution  of  my  country.  I  shall 
always  be  proud  of  Illinois,  her  prosperity,  her  people,  and  her  cities.  I  only  yield  to  the  decisioD 
•f  that  Providence  which  has  assigned  distinction  and  more  abundant  favors  to  State*  and 
•ities,  in  proclaiming  for  St.  Louis  unequaled  advantages  over  any  city  on  tho  continent,  and 
a  destiny  equal  to  any  city  in  the  world.  No  filial  love  can  weigh  against  nature  in  tho  distribu- 
tion of  her  favors  to  establish  power  and  greatness  among  men.  Therefore,  I  am  for  St.  Loui*, 
destined,  at  no  distant  day,  to  he  the  great  vitalizing  heart  of  the  world's  civilization.  But  thia 
is  not  an  envious  decision,  not  a  declaration  against  Chicago,  or  any  other  city  of  the  continent; 
lor  it  is  narrow  foolishness  for  the  citizens  of  Chicago  and  SL  Louis  to  be  envious  of  each  other** 
prosperity  and  industry.  In  the  great  West  there  is  ample  room  for  both  cities  to  reach  a  point  of 
growth  uncqualed  in  human  history,  and  there  never  will  be  a  time  when  there  is  not  room  enough 
for  both  of  them  in  this  great  valley,  and  never  a  time  when  the  interests  of  the  one  do  not  con- 
tribute to  the  interests  of  the  other,  and  the  growth  of  the  one  be  aided  by  the  growth  of  th« 
other.  Then  let  each  learn  that  her  true  interests  are  beet  served  by  an  enterprising  industry, 
guided  by  a  liberal  and  comprehensive  conception  of  the  rapidly  advancing  progress  of  our 
nation.  Without  these,  written  essays  in  favor  of  either  will  be  of  no  avail ;  and  in  the  face  of 
these,  jealousy  and  envy  are  unbecoming  the  dignity  of  the  citizens  of  either.  Then  away  with 
tiiat  narrow  judgment  which  is  hemmed  in  by  locality  and  warped  by  selfishness !  All  our  great 
•ities  are  kindred  in  interest  and  humanity.  They  are  triumphs  of  our  industrj',  and  living  monu- 
ments to  the  genius  of  our  people.  "They  are  all  pearls  upon  one  string" — ^jewels  of  a  commoo 
M)untry,  blossoms  of  our  civilization,  and  governed  by  one  all-pervading,  beneficent  law. 


52  ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUXUHE   GREAT   CITY. 


WATER  AS  AN  IMPORTANT  AUXILIARY  TO   TIIE  GROWTH  OF  A 
GREAT  CITY,  AND  THE  ADVANTAGE  POSSESSED  BY 
ST.  LOUIS  EOR  AN  INEXHAUSTIBLE  SUPPLY.     • 

H 


A  liberal  supply  of  water  has  at  all  times  been  considered  one  of  the  chief 
necessities  to  the  growth  and  prosperity  of  a  large  city.  In  many  parts  of 
Syria  and  Palestine  large  reservoirs  and  tanks  were  constructed  in  the  past, 
which  at  the  present  time  are  the  only  resource  for  water  during  the  dry 
season,  and  a  faijure  of  them  involves  drought  and  calamity. 

The  most  celebrated  of  the  pools  mentioned  in  Scripture  are  the  pools  of 
Solomon,  about  three  miles  southwest  of  Bethlehem,  from  which  an  aqueduct 
was  carried  which  still  supplies  Jerusalem  with  water.  These  pools  are  said 
to  be  three  in  number,  partly  hewn  out  of  the  rock,  and  partly  built  with 
masonry,  but  all  lined  with  cement.  The  largest  of  them  is  582  feet  long  by 
207  feet  wide  and  50  feet  deep. 

The  Romans  spared  no  expense  to  procure  for  their  city  an  abundant  supply 
of  pure  water.  Their  aqueducts,  some  of  which  are  still  in  operation,  at  one 
time  carried  to  that  city  350,000,000  gallons  of  water  daily,  or  290  gallons 
daily  for  each  inhabitant.  Some  of  these  aqueducts  had  a  length  of  from  thirty 
to  seventy  miles,  and  in  magnificence  and  costliness  far  surpassed  the  most  cele- 
brated works  of  modern  origin. 

The  earliest  and  m.ost  liberal  provisions  for  a  water  supply  on  our  own  con- 
tinent were  made  by  the  cities  of  Philadelphia,  New  York,  and  Boston,  and  to 
this  must  be  ascribed  in  a  great  measure  the  rapid  growth  of  these  cities.  In 
1860  the  amount  of  water  supplied  daily  to  each  inhabitant  of  these  cities 
averaged  ninety-seven  gallons  in  Boston,  fifty-two  gallons  in  New  York,  and 
thirty-six  gallons  in  Philadelphia.  The  works  in  these  cities  when  designed 
seemed  to  be  of  sufiicient  capacity  to  furnish  a  supply  for  many  years,  but 
their  growth  has  been  so  rapid  that  they  already  feel  the  necessity  of  husband- 
ing their  resources,  and  of  taking  measures  to  extend  their  works  so  as  to  be 
enabled  to  meet  the  increased  and  increasing  consumption.  In  fact,  during  the 
severe  drought  of  last  year  a  scarcity  of  water  was  experienced  in  each  of 
these  cities,  owing  to  the  inadequacy  of  their  sources  of  supply. 

The  great  advantage  possessed  by  St.  Louis  in  this  respect  consists  in  the 
fact  that  its  source  of  supply  is  inexhaustible.     The  Mississippi  in  time  of  an 


I 


ST.    LOUIS,    THE    FUTURE    GREAT    CITY.  68 

ordinary  stage  carries  past  the  city  about  1,500,000  gallons  of  water  per 
eecond,  or  enough  in  six  seconds  to  supply  the  present  necessities  of  its  inhabit- 
ants for  a  whole  day.  It  is  not  only  abundant,  but  is  one  of  the  most  whole- 
some waters  known.  It  is  true  that  in  time  of  high  water  it  contains  a  large 
per  centago  of  sedimentary  matter,  brought  down  by  the  swift  current  of  lh« 
Missouri  river,  but  of  this  it  is  easily  freed  by  settling  and  filtering.  And  it  is 
worthy  of  mention  hero  that  the  old  inhabiiants  of  our  city  are  so  far  from. 
being  averse  to  this  admixture  of  sedimentary  matter,  that  they  almost  regret 
that  the  now  works  now  in  course  of  construction  will  furnish  them  settled  or 
clear  water. 

The  first  waterworks  in  St.  Louis  consisted  of  a  reservoir  on  the  B;g  Mound, 
Bup[iliod  by  a  small  engine  from  the  Mississippi  river.  It  was  constructed  ia 
1829-30,  and  designed  to  contain  300,000  gallons.  The  city  of  St.  Louis  thoa 
numbered  5,852  inhabitants.  In  1850,  the  population  being  then  77,860,  a 
larger  reservoir  was  completed,  holding  about  8,000,000  gallons.  This  reser- 
voir has  also  boon  out  of  use  for  many  years.  The  reservoir  by  which  the  city 
is  now  supplied  was  finished  in  1855,  when  the  city  contained  125,000  inhabit- 
ants. The  water  is  pumped  into  it  by  three  pumps  located  at  the  foot  of  Bates 
street,  and  having  a  total  capacity  of  about  11,000,000  gallons  per  day.  One 
of  these  pumps  was  procured  by  the  present  Board  of  Water  Commis- 
Bionors  in  1868,  the  other  two  not  having  sufficient  capacity  to  supply  the  city 
beyond  a  contingency.  Previous  to  the  year  1860  it  had  become  apparent  that 
the  existing  works  would  soon  be  insufficient  to  supply  the  city.  In  fact,  the 
area  of  the  city  had  been  extended  so  much,  and  in  the  direction  of  grounds 
so  much  higher  than  the  reservoir,  that  a  largo  portion  of  the  territory 
included  within  the  new  limits  could  not  be  supplied.  Tho  question  of  ne\r 
and  more  extended  works  was  agitated  for  several  years,  but  without  any 
result,  until  tho  Governor  of  the  State,  under  a  law  passed  in  January,  1865, 
appointed  a  Board  of  Water  Commissioners.  These  gentlemen  appointed  Mr. 
James  P.  Kirk  wood,  tho  acknowledged  head  of  hydraulic  engineers  in  the 
United  States,  sinco  his  completion  of  tho  Brooklyn  waterworks,  their  Chief 
Engineer. 

In  October,  1865,  Mr.  Kirwood  submitted  several  plans  of  works  to  the 
Commissioners.  The  one  adopted  by  them  was  subsequently  rejected  by  tho 
Common  Council,  to  whom,  according  to  tho  then  existing  law,  belonged  the 
final  decision  of  tho  matter.  The  members  of  the  Board  of  Water  Commis- 
sioners resigned,  and  a  now  Board  appointed  by  tho  Governor,  having  retained 
Mr.  Ivirkwood's  services,  submitted  new  plans  to  the  Common  Council  for 
approval,  after  Mr.  Kirkwood  had  modified  his  former  plans  so  as  to  bring 
them  in  accordance  with  the  expressed  opinion  of  the  Council.  There  seeming 
to  bo  but  little  hopo  that  tho  coatlicting  opinions  of  tho  members  of  our  City 
Council  would  over  admit  of  their  approving  any  plan,  a  new  low  was  passed 
by  the  Legislature  which  placed  the  whole  matter  in  the  hands  of  a  commission 
of  three  membgrs,  and  authorized  them  to  apply  tho  proceeds  of  throo  and  a 
half  millions  of  bonds,  to  be  issued  by  tho  city,  to  the  construction  of  the  works. 
Tho  new  Board  appointed  as  their  Chief  Engineer  Mr.  Thomas  J.  Whitman,  an 


64  ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE   GRBAT    CITY. 

engineer  of  long  experience  in  hydraulic  works.  Mr.  Kirkwood  had  declined 
to  accept  the  position  again,  but  consented  to  act  as  consulting  engineer. 

The  plan  of  their  predecessors,  with  some  slight  alterations,  was  adopted 
by  the  new  Eoard,  and  after  acquiring  the  necessary  land  they  proceeded  at 
once  with  the  construction  of  the  works.  These  works,  of  which  we  will  give  a 
brief  description,  are  now  nearly  finished,  and  will,  within  two  nionths,  furnish 
the  city  with  an  abundant  supply  of  pure  and  wholesome  water. 

The  water  is  taken  from  the  Mississippi  river,  at  what  is  called  Bissell's 
Point,  close  to  the  northern  boundary  of  the  city.  It  first  enters  an  iron  towei:, 
80  feet  high,  sunk  to  the  rock,  and  provided  with  gates  at  different  heights,  so 
that  the  water  may  be  taken  at  any  desired  depth  below  the  surface.  In  this 
tower  are  several  strainers  and  screens  to  free  the  water  from  foreign  matter 
before  entering  the  pump-well.  From  this  tower  a  pipe  of  5i  feet  interior 
•  diameter,  and  800  feet  in  length,  conducts  the  water  to  the  pumping  engines, 
that  are  to  lift  it  into  the  settling  reservoirs.  These  engines  are  two  in  number, 
and  are  duplicate  engines  of  the  Cornish-bull  class — steam  cylinder  64  inches 
diameter,  12  feet  stroke,  and  plunger  54  inches  in  diameter  and  12  feet  stroke, 
each  of  a  capacity  to  pump  17,000,000  gallons  in  twenty-four  hours.  The 
foundations  for  these  engines  are  of  the  most  substantial  character,  and  to  pro- 
vide for  the  rapidly  increasing  demand,  have  been  constructed  large  enough  to 
hold  three  engines,  although  one  engine,  working  half  time,  could  supply  the 
present  average  demand  of  the  city.  To  free  the  water  from  the  sedimentary 
,   .  matter,  or  to   settle  it,  particularly  at  seasons   of  high  water,  four  settling 

,  "V^    reservoirs,  each  210  by  660  feet,  and  averaging  in  depth  about  20_feet,  have 

^>^      ■  4)een  constructed  close   to   the  river  bank.     The  water  pumped  by  the  low- 
*T!^,  ^-eervice  engines  is,  by  an  appropriate  set  of  gates,  admitted  at  will  into  either 
^  /■  of  these  four  reservoirs  j  there  it  is  left  at  perfect  rest  for  twenty-four  hours, 

y  during  which   time,  according  to   experiments   made   on   the   subject,  about 

nineteen-twentieths  of  the  sedimentary  matter  falls  to  the  bottom.  Dui'ing 
the  next  day  the  water  is  drawn  off  by  a  system  of  gates  so  arranged  as  not  to 
stir  up  the  sediment,  and  allow  the  water  to  discharge  at  all  times  near  its 
surface ;  the  last  three  or  four  feet  of  water  is  not  drawn  off,  but  on  the  fourth 
day  is  allowed  to  run  out  into  the  river  through  proper  sluice-gates,  taking 
with  it  most  of  the  sediment,  while  the  remainder  is  washed  out  with  the  aid 
of  an  engine,  and  the  reservoir  is  then  ready  for  a  new  supply.  Thus,  each  of 
the  four  reservoirs  passes  through  the  cycle  of  operation  during  four  days. 
The  water,  after  leaving  the  settling  reservoirs,  runs  by  gravity  through  a 
covered  conduit  about  one-half  mile  long,  into  a  small  reservoir  near  the  high- 
service  engines,  called  the  clear-water  well,  and  from  it  through  a  short  conduit 
to  the  high-service  engines.  These  are  two  in  number,  with  steam  cylinders  of 
85  inches  diameter  and  10  feet  stroke,  and  pump  cylinders  50  inches  diameter 
and  the  same  stroke.  To  give  an  idea  of  the  size  of  these  engines,  we  will  state 
that  the  walking  beam  of  each  engine  alone  weighs  32  tons,  and  the  fly-wheel 
36  tons ;  in  fact  there  are  only  one  or  two  engines  in  existence  that  have  a 
larger  capacity  than  these,  each  of  which  must  be  able,  according  to  contract, 
to  raise  sixteen  and  a  half  million  gallons  to  a  height  of  270  feet  within  twenty- 


6T.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTUKK    GRKAT    CITY.  65 

four  hours.  These  engines  were  built  by  the  Knap  Fort  Pitt  Foundry  Com- 
pany, at  Pittsburg,  Penn.  They  pump  through  a  lorce  main  five  miles  in 
length,  and  of  36  and  30  inches  diameter,  into  the  storage  reservoir  on  Compton 
Hill.  To  relieve  the  engines  and  force  main  from  any  concussion,  a  stand 
pipe  is  now  in  process  of  construction  which,  when  completed,  will  have  a 
height  of  242  feet  above  the  ordinary  high-water  level  of  the  river.  It  is  about 
one-half  mile  from  the  high-service  engines,  and  will,  from  its  summit,  present 
a  view  of  the  whole  city,  and  of  the  river  for  many  miles  in  its  course.  Before 
reaching  the  storage  reservoir  two  pipes  of  20-inch  diameter  branch  off  into 
the  city  and  connect  it  \yith  the  present  system  of  distribution,  while  a  third 
feeder  of  the  same  size  starts  from  the  storage  reservoir  so  as  to  secure  con- 
tinual motion,  and  thereby  prevent  the  water  from  becoming  foul. 

The  storage  reservoir  covers  about  seventeen  acres  of  land,  and  is  built 
near  the  city  boundary,  at  the  most  elevated  point  within  its  limits.  The 
elevation  of  its  water  surface  will  be  twenty-six  feet  above  the  highest  street 
grade,  and  will  be  ample  to  supply  the  upper  story  of  every  house  in  the  city. 
We  must  not  omit  to  mention  in  this  connection  that  the  greatest  portion  of 
the  8,000  tons  of  large  pipe  needed  in  the  construction  of  these  works  has  been 
east  in  this  city  by  the  enterprising  firm  of  Shickle,  Harrison  &  Howard. 

As  before  stated,  the  Commissioners  expect  to  have  the  works  ready  to 
•upply  the  city  within  a  few  months ;  and  unless  some  delay  impossible  to 
anticipate  occurs,  St.  Louis  will  soon  be  able  to  boast  of  having  the  most 
liberal  supply  of  wholesome  water  of  any  city  in  this  country.  What  bene- 
ficial influence  the  completion  of  these  works  will  have  on  the  comfort  and 
health  of  its  inhabitants,  and  on  the  prosperity  of  its  manufacturing  interesta, 
may  be  easily  imagined. 


LIB  \: 

VNIVKIi 


-^. 


ill       O  I 


vo.^j'^''-^^^*-^ 


ay 


66  B'X.    LOUIS,    IHK  FUTURE   GKEAT   CITY. 


MISSOURI  AND  HER  RESOURCES. 


Missouri  is  the  great  central  State  of  the  World's  Republic.  Geographically 
considered,  nearly  equal  portions  of  the  American  Union  stretch  out  from  her 
borders  towards  the  North,  South,  East,  and  West.  Its  dormant  and  latent 
energies  being  once  awakened  and  developed,  Missouri  must  become  the 
Empire  State  of  the  Center,  as  New  York  is  of  the  East.  Its  climatic  position 
is  altogether  propitious,  the  surface  not  being  greatly  elevated,  and  the  State 
lying  between  the  temperate  parallels  of  36°  30'  and  40°  30'  N.  latitude,  and 
between  the  meridians  of  89°  2'  and  95°  52'  W.  longitude. 

The  greatest  length  of  the  State,  from  East  to  West,  is  320  miles,  and  itg 
width,  from  North  to  South,  280.  These  dimensions  embrace  an  area  of 
67,380  square  miles,  equal  to  43,123,200  acres  of  land;  being  about  one-third 
larger  than  England,  and  possessing  twice  the  productive  capacity  of  that 
■wonderful  country.  Missouri  is  larger  than  any  State  east  of  the  Mississippi, 
and  possesses  as  much  fruitful  and  arable  soil  as  any  of  her  sister  States, 
whether  East  or  West.  Not  less  than  36,000,000  acres  of  land  in  Missouri  are 
well  adapted  to  furnish  all  the  products  of  a  temperate  clime. 

No  State  is  better  supplied  with  fountains  and  streams,  as  well  as  with  great 
riyers.  It  is  bounded  and  bisected  by  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri,  two  of  tho 
largest  and  longest  rivers  in  the  world  ;  rivers  whose  fountains  are  more  than 
three  thousand  miles  away,  fed  by  the  waters  of  the  Itasca,  or  the  eternal 
Btorms  that  breed  and  brood  about  the  cliifs  and  canons  of  tho  Eocky  Moun- 
tains, whose  affluents  water  a  score  of  States  and  Territories,  and  whose 
accumulated  floods  are  poured  into  a  torrid  sea.  One  thousand  miles  of  these 
great  rivers  lie  within  or  upon  the  boundary  of  Missouri.  The  principal 
streams  flowing  into  the  Mississippi  from  this  State  are  the  Salt,  Meramec, 
White,  and  St.  Francois,  the  two  latter  being  more  properly  rivers  of  Arkansas; 
and  the  main  afl^uents  of  the  Missouri  are  the  Osage,  Gasconade,  LaMine, 
Chariton,  Grand,  Platte,  and  Nodaway. 

Nature  has  given  to  Missouri  vast  resources  in  agricultural  and  mineral 
wealth,  also  abundant  facilities  for  commanding  and  managing  tho  internal 
commerce  of  the  West.  St.  Louis,  her  commercial  capital,  is  near  the  conflu- 
ence of  the  two  great  rivers.  There  she  stands,  like  the  Apocalyptic  angel, 
*'  with  one  foot  on  the  land,  and  tho  other  on  the  sea,"  beckoning  to  her  tho 
white-winged  messengers  of  commerce  from  every  ocean,  and  stretching  out 
her  iron  fingers  to  grasp  the  internal  trade  of  half  a  continent. 


ST.    LOUIS,    THB   FUTURE    GREAT    CITY.  57 

Tho  geographical  and  minoralogical  features  of  Missouri  are  not  only  pecu- 
liar, but  such  as  add  greatly  to  the  value  of  its  products.  What  is  known  as 
tho  "Ozark  range" — not  of  mountains,  but  of  hills  —  passes  through  the  south 
half  of  tho  State  from  west  to  east;  sometimes  appearing  morel}'  in  the  shape 
of  elevated  tal)lo-lands,  and  then  again  broken  into  rough  and  rugged  hills. 
Most  of  tlio  latter,  however,  are  rich  in  metals  or  minerals,  such  as  iron,  lead, 
zinc,  cupper,  coal,  etc.  Much  tho  larger  portion  of  this  hilly  region,  too,  is 
susceptible  of  cultivation;  and  for  raising  sheep,  or  the  culture  of  the  cereals, 
fruits,  and  espociallj-  grapes,  no  better  land  can  bo  found  anywhere  cast  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains.  As  tho  first  settlers  in  ^lissouri  generally  sought  tho  rich 
alluvial  and  prairie  soils  of  the  northwestern  and  central  portions  of  tho  State, 
tho  vast  and  fruitful  region  lying  in  tho  southwest,  south,  and  southeast  was 
neglected,  and  doomed  almost  worthless.  Large  quantities  of  this  land,  so  rich 
in  minerals,  and  readily  )'ielding  fine  crops  of  grain  and  fruit,  have,  within  a 
few  years,  been  sold  for  12J  cents  per  aero.  That  time  has  passed,  however, 
and  thousands  of  enterprising  immigrants,  both  farmers  and  miners,  are  making 
for  themselves  pleasant  and  profitable  homes  in  the  south  half  of  Missouri. 

The  soil  along  the  river  bottoms  of  Missouri  is  rich  as  tho  famed  valley  of 
tho  Nile.  Only  a  little  less  fruitful,  and  much  more  easily  put  into  cultivation, 
aro  tho  millions  of  acres  of  rich  prairie  land  in  tho  northwest  and  central  por- 
tions of  tho  State.  The  capacity  of  this  State  for  producing  food  for  both  men 
and  animals  is  something  enormous.  Whenever  there  is  a  full  development  of 
tho  State's  resources,  Missouri  will  furnish  happy  homes  for  five  millions  of 
people  ;  one-half  making  bread,  not  only  for  themselves,  but  to  feed  two  or 
three  millions  of  miners,  mechanics,  merchants,  and  professional  men ;  and  tho 
whole  State  receiving  every  year  many  millions  more  for  her  exports  than  she 
pa3-3  for  imports. 

liOoking  at  the  two  grand  districts  of  Missouri  a  little  more  ii\  delail,  anti 
beginning  with  the  extreme  southeast,  we  find  an  extensive  bottom-land  along 
tho  Mississippi,  extending  from  Capo  Girardeau  south  to  tho  Arkansas  river. 
It  includes  many  swamps,  which  are  rendered  almost  impenetrable  by  a  dense 
growth  of  trees.  The  most  extensive  of  these,  called  the  Great  Swamp,  com- 
mences a  few  miles  south  of  Capo  Girardeau,  and  passes  south  to  tho  month  of 
tho  St.  Francois,  penetrating  far  into  the  State  of  Arkansas.  This  pcculiur 
feature  gave  to  Missouri  its  southeastern  "pan-handlo,"  or  projection  south  of 
30°  W,  the  onco  charmed  parallel  between  freedom  and  slavery.  Tho  early 
settlers  in  the  region  below  Cape  Girardeau,  and  south  of  the  proper  boundary 
of  tho  Stato»  could  not  reach  any  settlements  in  Arkansas,  on  account  of  the 
swamps,  and  prayed  to  bo  attached  to  Missouri,  where  they  were  in  tho  habi; 
of  trading  and  getting  their  corn  ground. 

Turning  northward  from  the  swamp  region,  and  following  up  tho  course  oi" 
tho  Mississippi,  we  find  a  belt  of  high  lands  reaching  all  the  way  up  to  tho 
mouth  of  tho  ^Fissouri.  The  highest  part  of  this  range  is  botweon  St.  (Jeiio- 
viovo  and  tho  mouth  of  the  ^[eramec,  where  tho  ridgo  rises  from  three  to  four 
hundred  feet  above  tho  waters  of  the  Mississippi.  This  ridgo  of  high  lands  is 
the  Ozark    range,  before    alluded   to,  cut  asunder  bv   the    Father  of  Waters, 


58  ST.    LOUIS,    TUE   FUTURE    GREAT    CITY. 

extending  westward  through  the  State,  not  losing  its  rough  and  rugged  char- 
acter until  it  is  lost  in  a  ridge  of  high  prairie. 

In  the  country  north  of  the  Missouri,  constituting  about  one-third  of  the. 
State,  the  country  is  more  level,  but  sufficiently  undulating  to  secure  good 
drainage ;  and  the  soil  is  generally  excellent,  a  large  portion  of  the  country 
boin"-  a  rich  prairie,  watered  by  numerous  streams,  each  with  its  belt  of  timber. 
Altogether  the  richest  soil  and  most  productive  portions  of  Missouri  are  to  be 
found  in  the  western  and  northwestern  counties  of  the  State.  The  Platte 
country,  in  the  northwest,  and  Clay,  Jackson,  and  Lafayette  counties,  in  the 
west  have  long  been  famed  for  their  wonderful  yield  of  hemp,  grain,  and  stock. 

THE    CLIMATF 

Of  Missouri  is  peculiar.  Being  situated  about  half  way  between  the  great 
Southe-rn  Gulf  and  the  semi-arctic  regions  of  the  North,  with  but  slight  barriers 
on  either  side,  she  is  subject,  like  all  Western  States  of  the  same  latitude,  to 
frequent  changes  of  temperature.  But  notwithstanding  the  great  and  sudden 
transitions  as  indicated  by  the  thermometer,  Missouri  may  be  considered  a  very 
healthy  State.  Pulmonary  diseases  very  rarely  originate  here.  In  most  parts 
of  the  State  plowing  and  putting  in  crops  commence  in  March,  and  the  forests 
are  in  full  foliage  early  in  May;  while  in  the  extreme  southern  counties  cotton 
is  raised,  and  young  stock  manage  to  live  through  the  winter  with  little  or 
no  care. 

Taking  the  State  with  all  its  advantages  —  its  fruitful  soil  and  healthful 
climate,  its  vast  wealth  of  metals  and  minerals,  its  facilities  for  transi^ortation 
by  rail  or  river,  its  present  wealth  and  prospective  greatness  —  and  there  is 
scarcely  another  State  in  the  American  Union  that  affords  such  attractions  and 
inducements  either  to  the  capitalist  or  the  emigrant. 


Although  the  life  of  Missouri^  as  a  State,  has  only  extended  through  half  a 
century,  yet  it  has  been  the  busiest  and  most  progressive  half  century  in  the 
annals  of  the  world,  and  its  characteristics  have  been  stamped  upon  the  history 
and  fortunes  of  the  State.  Missouri  had  its  origin  amidst  the  first  great 
political  troubles  and  disputes  of  the  American  Eepublic.  A  compromise  gave 
legal  existence  to  the  State,  and  this  compromise  was  finally  washed  out  in  the 
blood  of  a  civil  war.  The  fraternal  strife  which  for  four  years  transformed  the 
most  beautiful  country  and  the  grandest  political  empire  in  the  world  into  a 
great  battle-field,  gave  a  full  share  of  its  bloody  fortunes  to  Missouri.  Some 
of  the  fairest  portions  of  the  State  were  almost  depopulated,  and  whole  sections 
passed  through  the  ordeal  of  blood  and  fire,  and  when  the  desolation  had  gone 
by,  presented  nothing  but  unpeopled  and  smoking  ruins.  But  after  the  night 
came  the  day,  and  the  horrid  wounds  inflicted  by  civil  war  began  to  be  healed 
by  the  angol  of  peace.  It  was  sharp  and  painful  surgery  that  cut  away  the  old 
excrescence,  but  it  left  the  body  politic  healthier,  and  all  the  people  happier 
and  more  prosperous  than  ever  before. 


ST.    LOUIS,    TUE   FUTURE    GREAT    CITY.  59 

Under  tbo  old  regime,  tho  States  of  Illinois  and  Indiana,  although  far  behind 
us  in  natural  resources,  were  outstripping  Missouri  in  the  march  of  empire. 
xVlthough  tho  great  advantages  of  the  State  brought  many  immigrants  in  spite 
of  tho  system  then  in  vogue,  yet  our  sister  States  across  tho  Mississippi  were, 
at  the  commencement  of  the  war,  far  in  advance  of  us  as  regarded  population 
and  material  wealth.  This  state  of  things  is  being  rapidly  changed  by  tho 
multitudes  of  immigrants  from  tho  Eastern  and  Middle  States  and  the  Old 
World,  who  are  seeking  homos  on  our  rich  prairies,  in  our  fruitful  valleys  and 
extensive  forests,  or  in  our  exhaustlnss  mines  of  iron,  lead,  and  zinc. 

POPULATION. 

The  present  population  of  Missouri  may  be  safely  put  down  at  nearlv,  if  not 
quite,  2,000,000.  The  first  census  of  the  State,  when  it  was  admitted  into  tho 
Union  in  1821,  showed  a  population  of  70,047.  From  that  date  the  number  of 
inhabitants  very  nearly  doubled  each  decade  up  to  18G0,  when  the  population 
of  Missouri,  including  white,  free  colored,  and  slaves,  amounted  to  1,172,797. 
Tho  war  drained  tbo  State,  not  only  of  material  wealth,  but  of  multitudes  of 
people  ;  but  tho  return  of  peace,  and  the  increased  and  ever-increasing  tide  of 
immigration,  will  bring  tho  State  up  to  three  millions  before  the  year  1880.  Of 
tho  present  inhabitants  of  Missouri  about  one  hundred  thousand,  or  one  ia 
fifteen,  aro  colored.  Considering  the  condition  these  people  have  been  in  for 
generations  past,  the}-  havo  conducted  themselves  with  great  propriety  since 
their  formal  emancipation  in  1865.  A  largo  majority  of  them  are  not  only 
making  an  honest  support  for  themselves  and  families,  but,  by  their  industry 
and  frugality,  accumulating  a  decent  competence.  On  the  south  side  of  the 
Missouri  river  especially,  there  is  a  largo  German  element  in  tho  population. 
Wherever  these  people  make  homes  in  tho  countr\',  and  plant  vineyards  or 
cultivate  small  farms,  you  may  look  with  confidence  for  present  prosperity 
and  future  wealth.  Every  town  or  neighborhood  in  Missouri  that  has  been 
planted  by  Germans  is  now  actually  wealthy,  or  has  the  elements  of  certain 
prosperity  in  the  future. 

EDUCATION. 

But  let  us  pass  from  these  general  views  of  a  great  State  and  its  varied 
resoui-ces  to  some  of  tho  details  which  constitute  the  grand  result.  When  we 
speak  of  tho  wealth  of  a  State,  we  should  not  so  much  consider  its  rich  mines, 
its  fruitful  soil,  its  genial  climate,  and  its  natural  channels  of  commerce  and 
communication,  as  its  people.  Tho  people  are  all  that  give  real  wealth  to  an}* 
country.  Without  inhabitants,  tho  fairest  lands  upqn  which  the  sun  shines 
would  bo  of  no  moro  value  than  a  barren  beach  or  a  rocky  cliff.  But,  then, 
the  people  must  have  intelligence  in  order  to  give  value  to  the  country  they 
inhabit.  Savages  make  a  land  poorer  instead  of  richer  by  their  presence. 
And  just  in  pi'oportion  as  a  community  rise  in  the  scale  of  civilization, 
intelligence,  refinement,  and  moi*al  worth,  their  lands  aiul  houses  go  np  in  their 
money  value. 


60  ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE   GREAT    CITY, 

In  this  matter  Missouri  made  a  grand  investment  at  the  very  start,  and  her 
school  fund  has  been  so  well  husbanded  and  increased  by  legislation  that  she 
has  now  a  system  of  public  instruction  that  may  challenge  comparison  with 
that  of  any  State  in  the  Union.  It  is  not  meant  by  this  that  the  educational 
machinery  of  the  State  is  everywhere  in  perfect  working  order,  but  that  the 
foundations  of  the  system  are  laid  deep  and  secure;  and  if  any  child  of  Mis- 
souri grows  up  in  absolute  ignorance,  it  will  be  because  it  refused  the  light  that 
is  offered  almost  "without  money  and  without  price." 

The  following  items  will  serve  to  indicate  the  present  working  of  the  common 
school  system  in  Missouri :  Number  of  children  in  State  between  five  and 
twenty-one  years,  584,026  for  the  year  1869;  number  of  children  in  public 
schools,  249,720.  It  would  be  safe  to  estimate  that  150,000  students  were  in 
the  numerous  colleges,  seminaries,  private  and  parochial  schools,  during  the 
same  year.  jSTumber  of  teachers  in  public  schools,  7,145 ;  number  of  public 
schools  in  the  State,  5,307 ;  number  of  public  school-houses,  5,412;  value  of 
public  school-houses,  $3,087,062. 

The  richly-endowed  Industrial  College,  incorporated  with  the  State  Univer- 
sity, at  Columbia,  offers  not  only  an  academic  but  an  agricultural  education  to 
all  who  desire  to  become  scientific  as  well  as  practical  farmers.  Other  incor- 
porated and  leading  institutions  of  learning  in  Missouri  are :  North  Missouri 
Xormal  School,  at  Ivirksville ;  William  Jewett  College,  at  Liberty ;  Grand 
Kiver  College,  at  Edinburgh ;  Plattsburg  College,  at  Plattsburg ;  McGee  Col- 
lege^ at  College  Mound ;  Christian  University,  at  Canton ;  Washington  Uni- 
versity and  St.  Louis  University,  both  at  St.  Louis;  St.  Paul's  College,  at 
Palmyra ;  and  Bethel  College,  at  Palmyra. 

MANUFACTURES. 

No  great  community,  living  in  a  fertile  and  productive  country,  can  be  long 
or  largely  prosperous  unless  it  shows  a  certain  amount  of  independence,  or 
rather  an  ability  and  disposition  to  supph'  most  of  its  ordinary  wants.  A 
simple  monopoly  is  always  an  evil,  tending  to  enrich  a  few  and  impoverish  the 
multitude.  Before  the  war,  the  Southern  States  made  cotton  and  sugar^  and 
looked  to  the  North  almost  entirely  for  breadstuffs.  Since  the  war  they  have 
learned  to  produce  a  lai-go  portion  of  their  food  supplies,  and,  as  a  result,  will 
soon  be  more  prosperous  than  ever  before. 

Missouri  has  a  food-producing  capacity  sufficient  to  sustain  thirty  or  forty 
millions  of  people.  But  it  is  by  no  means  her  policy  to  devote  all  her  energies 
to  raising  corn,  wheat,  and  pork,  trusting  entirely  to  other  States  and  foreign 
countries  for  the  ten  thousand  articles  and  implements  demanded  by  the  present 
civilization  and  the  various  industries  connected  with  it. 

Missouri  has  illimitable  quantities  of  the  raw  material,  and  wonderful  facili- 
ties for  generating  the  necessary  power  to  transform  that  raw  material  into 
the  thousand  forms  suited  to  the  wants  of  civilized  men.  Until  lately  we  have 
done  but  little  in  the  way  of  manufactures  beyond  making  wheat  into  flour, 
corn  into  whisky,  hemp  into  bagging  and  rope,  tobacco  into  shapes  to  suit 
smokers  and  chewers,  and  iron  into  stoves  and  heavy  castings.     But  a  new  era 


\ 


ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE   QKEAT    CITY.  61 

has  dawned  uijon  the  State.  Wo  have  dibcoverod  that  we  can  make  a  thousand 
articles  of  primary  and  pressing  need  just  as  well  as  they  can  bo  made  m  Now 
or  Old  England.  In  the  single  article  of  iron,  the  capital  invested  in  its  nianu- 
facturo  has  quadrupled  within  tho  last  four  or  five  years.  Capitalists  from 
abroad,  who  have  studied  our  resources  and  facilities  for  manufacturing  iron, 
have  become  satisfied  that  Missouri  must  soon  becomo  one  of  the  largest  iron- 
producing  States  in  tko  world  j  and  thoy  are  adding  millions  to  tho  working 
capital  employed  in  this  branch  of  industry. 

Tho  time  is  approaching  when  avo  shall  not  have  to  import  our  railroad  iron 
from  Europe,  much  of  our  pottery  and  queensware  from  other  States,  our  glass 
and  hardware  from  tho  good  cit}-  of  Pittsburg,  and  many  of  our  woolen  and 
cotton  goods  from  New  England.  When  that  time  comes,  Missouri  will  haro 
achieved  her  great  destiny  as  tho  Empire  State  of  the  Mississippi  Valley. 

CREDIT   OF    MISSOURI. 

A  country  possessing  such  vast  stores  of  material  wealth  as  Missouri, 
although  much  of  it  is  still  undeveloped,  should  have  proper  credit  and  con- 
sideration in  all  bureaus  of  finance  throughout  tho  world.  A  State  that  could 
oe  sold  under  tho  hammer  to-day  for  more  than  a  thousand  niiliions  of  dollars 
should  have  her  bonds  as  good  as  gold.  Thoy  are  nearly  so,  in  spite  of  the 
heavy  railroad  debt  incurred  before  tho  war.  This  debt  is  being  rapidly  can- 
celed, and  very  soon  Missouri  6's  will  stand  at  par  or  a  premium.  It  may  not 
be  improper  to  add  in  this  connection,  that  the  assessotl  value  of  tho  taxable 
property  in  Missouri  in  1868,  with  such  addition  as  the  assessors  themselves 
allow  to  be  correct  in  estimating  the  real  cash  value  of  property,  amounted  to 
81,177,000,000,  and  this  vast  amount  will  be  increased  to  at  least  §1,250,000,000 
the  present  j'car. 

tSTOCK-RAISINO. 

Perhaps  thero  is  no  ono  of  tho  great  Western  States  of  tho  American  Union 
better  adapted  to  stock-raising  than  Missouri.  Abundant  crops  of  grain  and 
corn  are  almost  as  certain  as  the  return  of  tho  seasons.  The  climate  in  most 
parts  of  tho  Stato  is  mild  enough  to  preclude  tho  necessity  of  much  shelter  or 
long  feeding  in  winter.  Small  streams,  with  their  meandering  branches  and 
bubbling  fountains,  lie  like  a  net-work  all  over  tho  State  ;  and  some  of  those 
streams  are  so  impregnated  with  salt  as  to  supply  stock  with  all  they  need  of 
this  article. 

The  following  exhibits  tho  number  and  value  of  horses,  mules,  cattle,  shoep, 
and  hogs,  in  1868  : 

VALUE. 

Horses 375,400 S10,203,-I27 

Mnlos 86,200 4,8-22.9« 

Cattle 933,517 12,ir,0,2.'H 

Sheep 1,385^805 1,051,078 

Uogs 1,952,532 3,734.00« 


Total. ..4,733,453 $41,880,733 


(52  ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE    GREAT    CITY. 


VALUE    OF   LAND   IN   MISSOURI. 


It  is  doubtful  whether  any  other  State  in  the  Mississippi  Valley  can  furnish 
"•ood  land  at  so  moderate  a  price  as  Missouri.  On  the  south  side  of  the  Mis- 
souri river  there  are  more  than  a  million  of  acres  (much  of  it  good  land)  still 
to  be  given  away  as  homesteads.  In  the  same  portion  of  the  State  there  are 
millions  of  acres,  mostly  lying  south  of  the  Osage  river,  that  can  be  bought  for 
from  fifty  cents  to  five  dollars  an  acre.  Much  of  this  land  is  equal  to  any  in 
the  whole  country  for  vineyards,  fruit,  and  sheep  farms.  In  the  extreme 
southeastern  quarter  of  the  State  there  is  an  immense  body  of  the  richest  land 
in  the  world,  which  can  be  restored  to  use  by  drainage,  and  that,  too,  at  a  mod- 
erate cost,  compared  with  the  value  of  the  land  to  be  redeemed.  Not  only  can 
a  large  portion  of  the  land  in  the  south  half  of  Missouri  be  obtained  very 
cheaply,  but  even  the  finely  cultivated  farms  along  the  valley  of  the  Missouri 
and  all  over  the  rich  prairies  of  the  western,  central,  and  northern  portions  of 
the  State,  can  be  purchased  lower  than  the  same  kind  of  land  and  improvements 
in  Illinois.  No  country  in  the  wide  West  offers  stronger  inducements  to  the 
enterprising  and  industrious  immigrant  than  Missouri.  If  he  is  a  farmer,  our 
fruitful  soil  awaits  the  hand  of  the  cultivator,  to  whom  it  will  return  "  thirt}', 
fifty,  or  an  hundred  fold."  If  he  is  a  miner  or  mechanic,  his  hands  shall  find 
plenty  of  work,  with  liberal  pay. 


ST.    LOLL-,    THE   FLTLKE   UKEAX   dTY.  63 


MINERAL  RESOURCES  OF  MISSOURI. 


BY    PEOF.    G.    C.   SWALLOW, 

FORMER    STATE    QEOLOOIST. 


CoLtTMBiA  :Mo.,  Septonber  20,  1870. 
L.  U.  Reavis,  Esq.  : 

My  Dear  Sir:  Your  note  requesting  mc  to  make  out  ft  chapter  on  the  Mineral  Itesourcea  »f 
Missouri  for  the  now  etVitiou  of  your  woric,  was  dulj*  received.  I  have  attempted  to  comply  with 
your  request;  but  numerous  previous  entjagemcnts  have  rendered  it  impossible  for  mc  to  make 
it  as  perfect  and  complete  as  I  would  wish. 

IVrmit  mo  to  suggest  that  your  article  on  this  subject,  in  the  first  edition,  is  too  vnlunble  to  I 
omitted  in  the  future  editions.     Our  minerals  and  our  soils  arc  the  foundations  of  the  nrgumei.i. 
and  upon  these  you  can  scarcely  say  too  much, 

I  heartily  wish  you  entire  success  in  your  great  work,  hoping  ere  long  to  congmlulate  you  in 
the  Mound  City,  when  it  shall  have  become  the  Business  Metropolis  and  the  Political  Capital  of 
the  nation. 

Very  truly,  your  obedient  servant, 

G.  C.  SWALLOW. 


I 


There  is  no  territory  of  equal  extent  on  the  continent  which  contains  sc 
many  and  such  largo  quantities  of  the  most  useful  minerals  as  the  State  o: 
Missouri.  In  making  this  remark  there  is  no  desire  to  underrate  the  mineral 
resources  of  other  States  or  of  the  adjacent  Territories,  but  to  announce  tlu' 
fact  that  some  good  fortune  has  set  the  boundaries  of  this  State  around  a  por- 
tion of  country  filled  with  an  unusual  amount  of  the  mineral  substances  useful 
in  the  arts  and  manufactures,  and  that  several  of  those  most  useful  are  found 
in  such  quantities  that  the  supply  is  virtually  inexhaustible.  There  are  some 
that  no  demand  for  home  consumption  or  for  foreign  supplies  can  exhaust 
within  the  time  allotted  for  the  rise,  progress,  and  decaj'  of  nations. 

Only  small  portions  of  the  precious  metals  have  been  discovered  in  Missouri  ; 
nor  is  it  desirable  there  should  bo.  It  is  true  that  deposits  of  silver  and  gold 
concentrate  populations  very  rapidly  and  yield  many  largo  fortunes ;  but 
histoiy  does  not  show  that  countries  producing  silver  and  gold  have  boon  per 
manently  prosperous.  Gold  ituilt  up  California  very  rapidly,  and  it  is  now 
filled  with  a  great  and  prosperous  people  ;  but  gold  does  not  keep  them  there, 
nor  does  it  induce  the  present  immigration.  The  beautiful  climate  and 
wonderful  agricultural  resources  are  its  present  attractions. 


64  ST.    LOUIS,    THE    FUTURE    GREAT    CITY. 

Mexico  and  Peru  have  large  and  numerous  deposits  of  precious  metals  ;  but 
they  have  never  secured  permanent  prosperity,  though  peopled  by  what  were 
the  best  races  of  pjurope. 

Spain  has  had  vast  quantities  of  gold  and  silver,  both  at  home  and  in  her 
loreign  possessions,  from  the  earliest  antiquity ;  but  the  most  prosperous 
nations  of  ancient  and  modern  times  have  imported  nearlj'  all  the  gold  and 
silver  they  have  used.  Gold  mining  has  yielded  many  colossal  fortunes,  as  to 
CrcBSUS  in  ancient  times,  and  to  many  familiar  names  of  later  date;  still  the 
great  mass  of  those  engaged  in  gold  mining  have  lived  poor  and  died  poor. 
These  results  might  be  expected  from  the  ver}'  nature  of  the  business.  Nine- 
tenths  of  all  the  labor  spent  in  the  search  for  and  in  mining  gold  meets  with 
no  reward,  while  some  of  it  has  been  rewarded  with  signal  success.  All  who 
engage  in  this  business,  therefore,  have  high  expectations,  and  many  spend 
their  gains  lavishly,  live  fast,  and,  if  not  successful,  often  become  dissipated 
and  worthless.  Almost  all  other  pursuits  yield  a  reward  which  may  be  calcu- 
lated with  some  degree  of  certainty,  which  gives  stability  and  permanence  and 
leads  to  regular  habits  and  progress.  Those  results  become  very  marked  in 
national  character  when  examined  in  the  light  of  histor}'.  Great  Britain  and 
Spain  give  a  striking  illustration.  Scarcely  three  centuries  have  elapsed  since 
the  united  crowns  of  Castile  and  Aragon  ruled  a  more  prosperous  people  than 
the  thrones  of  Albion  and  Scotia.  Spain  extended  her  rule  over  the  fairest 
portions  of  the  New  "World  and  held  the  commerce  of  both  hemispheres. 
Galleon  after  galleon,  deeply  laden  with  the  precious  metals  from  the  mines  of 
Mexico  and  Peru,  filled  the  treasury  of  the  government  and  the  pockets  of  her 
people.  England,  on  the  other  hand,  was  opening  her  mines  of  iron  and  coal 
and  pushing  her  manufactories  by  all  the  appliances  of  science  and  art. 

Spain  has  squandered  her  gold  and  become  a  mere  pensioner  on  Cuba.  But 
England  now  holds  the  commerce  of  both  Indies,  and  the  world  pays  a  golden 
tribute  to  her  iron  and  coal. 

If  Missouri  will  w^ork  up  her  iron  and  coal  she  may  become  as  powerful  and 
rich  as  England.  She  has  more  territoiy  and  better  soil,  more  and  better  iron 
and  quite  as  much  coal. 

People  who  work  iron  partake  of  its  strong  and  hardy  nature.  They  move 
the  world  and  shape  its  destinies.  The  region  tributary  to  St.  Louis  has  far 
more  of  the  very  best  varieties  of  iron  ore  than  can  be  found  available  for  any 
other  locality  in  the  known  world  ;  and  the  facilities  for  working  these  vast 
deposits  are  unsurpassed.  The  country  is  well  watered  ;  timber  is  abundant ; 
and  all  is  surrounded  by  inexhaustible  coal  beds.  These  facts  alone  will  make 
St.  Louis  the  great  iron  mart  of  the  country. 

SPECULAR    OXIDE   OF   IRON. 

This  is  one  of  the  most  abundant  and  valuable  ores  in  the  State.  Iron 
Mountain  is  the  largest  mass  observed.  It  is  two  hundred  feet  high  and  covers 
an  area  of  five  hundred  acres,  and  is  made  up  almost  entirely  of  this  ore  in  its 
purest  form.     The  quantity  above  the  surface  of  the  valley  is  estimated  at 


ST.    LOUIS,    THE    FUTURE    QKEAT    CITY.  65 

200,000,000  tons.  But  this  is  only  a  fraction  of  the  ore  here,  as  it  descends  to 
unknown  depths,  and  ever}'  foot  of  the  descent  will  yield  some  3,000,000  tons. 
Veins  of  this  ore  cut  the  porphyry  at  the  shut-in,  the  location  of  the  first  iron 
furnace  erected  in  this  region.  Fine  beds  of  this  ore  wore  also  found  at  the 
Buford  ore-bod  at  the  Big  Bogy  Mountains,  at  Russell  Mountain,  at  the  JameH 
iron-works,  and  other  localities  in  Phelps  county;  and  in  sections  two,  three,' 
ten,  and  eleven,  of  township  thirt\'-five,  range  four,  west,  in  Dent  county,  on 
the  Southwest  Pacific  railroad,  and  in  several  other  localities  in  that  county 
There  are  several  important  deposits  in  Crawford,  Phelps,  and  Pulaski  counties. 

S1LICI0U8    SPECULAR    OXIDE 

Is  found  in  very  largo  quantities  in  Pilot  Knob,  where  it  is  interstratificd 
with  slates  and  porphyry,  as  in  tho  famous  Iron  Mountain  near  I^ake  Superior. 
The  iron  of  Pilot  Knob  has  been  worked  for  many  years.  Its  quality  is  as  good 
as  its  quantity  is  great. 

MAONETIC    AND    SPECULAR    OXIDE 

Kxists  in  largo  veins  iu  the  porphyry  of  Shepherd  Mountain.  It  is  very  pure, 
and  largo  quantities  have  been  worked.  • 

There  is  iron  enough,  of  the  very  best  qualit}-,  within  a  few  miles  of  Pilot 
Knob  and  Iron  Mountain  to  furnish  one  million  tons  of  manufactured  iron  per 
annum  for  tho  next  two  hundred  years.  All  these  ores  are  well  adapted  to  the 
manufacture  of  pig  metal,  and  the  most  of  them  are  suitable  for  making  blooms 
by  tho  Catelau  process,  and  steel  bj'  the  Bessemer. 


Has  been  discovered  in  beds  several  miles  in  extent  in  tho  swamps  and 
c^-presses  of  Southeast  Missouri  —  in  Scott,  Mississippi,  Duiiklin,  Pemiscot, 
and  Now  Madrid  counties,  in  quantity  suiBcient  in  itself  alone  to  mako 
Missouri  tho  great  Iron  State. 

HEMATITE    ORES 

Of  good  quality  are  vory  generall}'  distributed  over  the  soutlicrn  part  of  tho 
State,  whore  it  is  often  found  in  very  extensive  beds.  Large  deposits  havo 
been  discovered  in  Cooper,  St.  Clair,  Green,  Ilenry,  Franklin,  Benton,  Dalian, 
Camden,  Stone,  Madison,  Iron,  Washington,  Perry,  St.  Francois,  Reynolds, 
Stoddard,  Scott,  and  Dent  counties.  The  beds  discovered  in  Scott,  Stoddard, 
and  Perry  counties  are  very  extensive  and  of  good  quality.  The  beds  in  tho 
tertiary  rocks  of  Scott  county  are  not  so  good.  In  these  bods  of  hematite 
alone  Misssouri  has  more  iron  than  can  bo  smelted  in  the  present  and 
succeeding  generations. 

6PATU1C    ORE 

Has  been  discovered  in  very  extensive  beds  in  tho  tertiary  rocks  of  Scott 
county,  where  the  ore  is  very  pure.     Tho  coal  measures  of  Missouri  contain 


66  ST.    LOUIS,    THE  FUTURE   GREAT    CITY. 

many  bods  of  spathic  ore;  and  it  is  found  in  greater  or  less  quantities  through- 
out the  entire  area  of  27,000  square  miles  covered  by  these  rocks.  These  beds 
of  ore  are  similar  to  many  worked  extensively  in  England  and  Pennsylvania ; 
and,  in  the  absence  of  the  vast  beds  of  other  ores  of  better  quality,  they  would 
attract  more  attention  and  be  made  productive. 

Were  it  possible  to  exhaust  the  more  available  deposits  in  the  State,  the 
spathic  ores  of  the  tertiary  and  coal  rocks  could  supply  all  the  demands  for 
iron  for  a  long  period. 

In  a  chapter  so  limited  it  is  impossible  to  mention  all  the  hundreds  of  locali- 
ties already  discovered,  to  say  nothing  of  the  areas  not  yet  explored.  There 
are  already  recorded  in  the  reports  of  the  geological  survey  fifty-six  workable 
beds  in  Green,  Phelps,  MarieS;  and  Crawford  counties  alone,  and  good  ore  is 
still  more  abundant  in  the  counties  of  the  Southeast. 

In  other  States  there  are  many  very  extensive  iron  deposits,  which  will 
naturally  gravitate  toward  St.  Louis.  Among  them  there  are  some  very 
valuable  in  the  Indian  Territory,  which  our  railroads  will  make  available. 

But  the  most  extensive  iron  bed  jet  observed  is  on  the  Missouri  river,  crop- 
ping out  in  the  bluffs  on  both  banks  of  the  river  for  a  distance  of  more  than 
twenty-five  miles.  These  beds  are  on  the  river,  and  many  million  tons  could 
be  mined  and  put  on  boats  for  less  than  one  dollar  per  ton  ;  and  the  expense 
of  carr^'ing  to  St,  Louis,  down  stream,  would  be  very  small. 

Other  localities  might  be  mentioned,  but  we  have  shown  the  position  of 
enough  of  the  various  vai'ieties  of  iron  ore  to  supply  any  possible  demand  of 
any  possible  manufacturing  city  for  the  next  thousand  years,  and  all  is  so 
located  as  to  be  tributary  to  St.  Louis, 

The  simple  fact  that  such  quantities  of  iron  ore  do  exist  so  near  and  in 
places  so  accessible,  will  compel  this  young  and  vigorous  city  to  become  the 
Iron  Mart.  The  iron  furnaces  at  Iron  Mountain,  Pilot  Knob,  Irondale,  Moselle 
works,  James  works,  St.  Louis,  and  Carondelet,  fifteen  in  all,  with  a  capacity 
of  130,000  tons,  and  two  rolling  mills  with  a  capacity  of  40,000  tons,  and  the 
numerous  foundries  and  machine  shops,  are  the  growth  of  a  few  yeai's  —  a  mere 
beginning  of  the  great  work  of  utilizing  our  iron  ores.  These  will  increase  in 
a  rapid  ratio  until  a  hundred  furnaces  pour  forth  the  molten  metal,  a  score  of 
mills  roll  it  into  rails  and  bars  and  plates,  and  a  hundred  foundries  mold  it 
into  the  ten  thousand  shapes  and  forms  demanded  by  human  industry.  Then 
shall  we  see  the  millenium  of  iron  men,  and  our  people  be  prepared  to  appre- 
ciate the  value  of  our  iron  beds ;  and  they  will  appreciate  the  justice  of  your 
noble  tribute  to  the  pioneers  of  iron  in  Missouri. 

COAL. 

Mineral  coal  has  done  much  to  promote  the  rapid  progress  of  the  present 
century.  Commerce  and  manufactures  could  not  have  reached  their  present 
unprecedented  prosperity  without  its  aid ;  and  no  people  can  expect  success  in 
those  departments  of  human  industry  unless  their  territory  furnishes  an  abun- 
dance of  this  useful  mineral.     Previous  to  the  geological  survey  it  was  known 


I 


3T.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE   GREAT    CITY.  07 

that  coal  existed  in  many  counties  of  the  State,  but  there  was  no  detinite 
knowledge  of  the  continuation  of  workable  beds  over  any  considerable  areas; 
but  since  the  geological  survey  commenced,  the  southeastern  outcrop  of  the 
coal  measures  Las  been  traced  from  the  mouth  of  the  Des  Moines,  through 
Clark,  Lewis,  Shelb}-,  Monroe,  Audrain,  Boone,  Cooper,  Pettis,  llenry,  St.  Clair, 
Bates,  Vernon,  and  Barton,  into  the  Indian  Territory,  and  every  county  on  the 
northwest  of  this  lino  is  known  to  contain  more  or  less  coal,  giving  us  an  area 
of  over  26,000  square  miles  of  coal  bods  ^n  that  part  of  tho  State.  Wo  have 
proved  the  existence  of  vast  quantities  of  coal  in  Johnson,  Pettis,  Lafayette, 
Cass,  Cooper,  Chariton,  Howard,  Boone,  Saline,  Putnam,  Adair,  Macon,  Carroll, 
Pay,  Callawa}',  Audrain,  and  it  is  confidently  expected  that  the  counties  to  the 
northwest  will  prove  to  be  as  rich  when  fully  examined.  Outside  of  tho  coal- 
field as  given  above,  the  regular  coal  rocks  also  exist  in  Palls,  Montgomer}-, 
Warren,  Callaway,  St.  Charles,  and  St,  Louis,  and  local  deposits  of  cannel  and 
bituminous  coal  in  Moniteau,  Cole,  Morgan,  Crawford,  Callaway,  and  probablj- 
other  counties.  Workable  beds  of  good  coal  exist  in  nearly  all  places  where 
the  coal  measures  are  developed,  as  some  of  tho  best  beds  are  near  their  base, 
and  must  crop  out  on  the  borders  of  tho  coal-field.  This  is  found  to  bo  tho  fact 
where  examinations  have  been  made.  All  of  tho  little  outliers  along  tho  border 
contain  moro  or  less  coal,  though  tho  stratas  aro  not  moi'o  than  forty  or  fifty 
feet  thick.  But,  exclusive  of  these  outliers  and  local  deposits,  wo  have  an  area 
of  twenty-six  thousand  eight  hundred  square  miles  of  tho  regular  coal  measures. 
If  the  average  thickness  of  workable  coal  be  one  foot  only,  it  wuU  givo  26,800,- 
000,000  tons  for  tho  whole  area  occupied-  by  coal  rocks.  But  in  many  places 
tho  thickness  of  the  workable  beds  is  over  fifteen  feet,  and  the  least  estimate 
that  can  bo  made  for  the  whole  area  is  five  feet.  This  will  give  over  134,000,- 
000,i'00  tons  of  good  available  coal  in  our  State.  Such  were  our  estimates  of 
the  coal  in  Missouri  in  1855.  Since  then  new  beds  have  been  opened  in  the 
area  above  designated  and  large  tracts  discovered  in  other  parts  of  tho  State, 
along  tho  whole  lino  of  tho  southeastern  outcrop  of  the  lower  coal  strata, 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Des  Moines  to  the  Indian  Torritorj-.  Along  tho  linos  of 
all  tho  railroads  in  North  Missouri,  and  along  tho  western  end  of  tho  Missouri 
Pacific,  active  and  systematic  mining  has  opened  our  coal  beds  in  a  thousand 
localities,  and  developed  a  series  of  facts  w^hich  render  it  absolutely  certain  thai 
our  former  estimate  falls  far  below  tho  real  quantit}-  in  tho  State.  Prior  to 
1855  no  eoal  bods  had  been  discovered  on  the  Missouri  river  between  Kansag 
City  and  Sioux  Citj-,  save  one  or  two  thin  bods  in  tho  upper  coal  measures,  and 
practical  men  were  slow  to  believe  the  geologist  could  detect  the  existence  of 
coal  beneath  the  surface.  But  some  brave  men  at  Leavenworth  City  have  sunk 
a  shaft  to  ono  of  the  lowest  coal  beds,  700  feet  beneath  their  city,  and  more 
than  600  feet  below  the  Missouri  river  at  that  point.  The  success  of  this  enter- 
prise proves  the  deductions  of  science  that  our  lower  coal  beds,  which  crop  out 
along  the  eastern  boundary  of  our  coal-field,  from  Clark  county  to  Yemon,  dip 
beneath  tho  surface  and  extend  to  the  west  as  far  at  least  as  Leavenworth,  or 
beyond  tho  western  boundary  of  Missouri. 

This  and  other  similar  developments  prove  to  a  moral  certainty  that  our  esti- 


68  ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE    GREAT    CITY. 

male  of  the  coal  iu  the  State  at  134,000,000,000  tons  is  much  too  small.  But 
since  that  is  enough,  we  need  not  make  new  figures.  But  it  is  not  the  coal  of 
Missouri  alone  which  is  tributary  to  St.  Louis.  The  1  .J,000  square  miles  of  coal 
measures  in  Kansas,  as  much  more  in  the  Indian  Territory  and  Arkansas,  and 
still  hu-'J-er  areas  in  Iowa  and  Illinois  and  Kentucky,  are  so  located  as  to  form 
around  St.  Louis  a  circle  of  fuel  at  once  accessible  and  inexhaustible.  Coal  is 
but  one  remove  from  the  diamond ;  but  that  slight  difference  makes  it  vastly 
more  valuable  —  the  motive  power  of  the  world.  Could  all  the  millions  of  men 
on  the  earth  live  a  thousand  years,  and  put  forth  all  their  strength  for  that 
whole  period,  the  power  exerted  would  sink  into  insignificance  when  compared 
with  the  latent  power  inherent  in  this  circle  of  coal-fields.  What  crown,  then, 
can  be  more  fitting  for  this  Queen  Citj-  than  this  circle  of  coal-fields,  gemmed 
with  mountains  of  iron. 

ECONOMICAL   VALUE. 

\\\  our  efforts  to  appreciate  the  value  of  so  vast  a  deposit  of  this  most  useful 
mineral  and  its  influence  on  the  growth  of  St.  Louis,  we  should  constantly  bear 
in  mind  the  position  of  these  beds,  beneath  the  soil  of  one  of  the  richest  agri- 
cultural regions  on  the  continent,  within  a  State  whose  manufacturing  and 
commercial  facilities  and  resources  are  scarcely  inferior  to  anj^,  and  adjacent  to 
the  Mississippi  and  Missouri  rivers,  and  the  Pacific,  the  JSorth  Missouri,  and  the 
Hannibal  and  St.  Joseph  railroads. 

With  all  these  advantages  of  location,  the  certaintj^  that  these  coal  beds  can 
furnish  100,000,000  tons  per  annum  for  the  next  thirteen  hundred  years,  is  a 
fact  of  the  first  importance  to  your  city  and  its  wonderful  future.  These  coal 
beds  contain  nearly  all  known  varieties  of  bituminous  and  cannel  coals,  such 
as  are  suited  to  almost  all  manufacturing  purposes. 


The  most  important  deposits  of  lead  in  Missouri  are  galena,  or  the  sulphuret 
ef  lead.  Carbonates  of  tin  occur  in  considerable  quantities,  and  sometimes 
small  portions  of  other  ores  of  this  valuable  metal  are  found.  Our  lead  mines 
have  been  worked  with  great  success  for  the  last  half  century.  It  is  true  that 
the  amount  of  mining  done  and  the  success  at  various  points  have  been  sora,e- 
what  vai-iable,  as  is  always  the  case  in  mining  operations  when  conducted  and 
carried  on  by  men  who  have  but  little  capital  and  practical  knowledge  of  the 
work,  as  ours  have  been  in  some  considerable  degi-ee  at  least.  Many  of  our 
mines  have  been  neglected  for  various  reasons  ;  some  on  account  of  disputed 
titles ;  others  from  the  general  depression  of  the  business ;  and  others  on 
account  of  the  late  militar}'  troubles.  But  there  is  no  good  reason  to  suppose 
our  mines  would  be  less  productive  now  than  at  any  previous  period.  Few  or 
none  have  been  exhausted,  and  many  are  now  worked  with  greater  success  than 
at  any  previous  time.  All  the  facts  encourage  a  more  extended  effort  to  work 
and  more  fully  develop  some  of  the  neglected  mines  and  open  new  ones. 

Our  space  will  not  permit  a  detailed  account  of  the  lead  mines  of  the  State. 


ST.    LOUIS,    THE   rUTLRE    GREAT    CITY.  C9 

There  arc  more  than  five  hundred  localities,  old  and  now,  that  promise  good 
returns  to  the  miner.  Two  hundred  and  sixteen  have  been  catalogued  in  my 
report  on  the  Southwest  Pacific  railroad. 

The  Eastern  Lead  Region  comprises  a  largo  portion  of  Franklin,  "Washington, 
Jefferson,  Crawford,  Phelps,  Dent,  Madison,  St.  Francois,  Perry,  St.  Geneviovo, 
and  some  parts  of  the  adjoining  counties,  giving  an  area  of  some  fivo  thousand 
square  miles. 

The  Southwestern  Lead  Jlegion  comprises  a  largo  portion  of  Nowton,  Jasper, 
and  small  tracts  of  the  adjoining  counties,  making  an  area  of  about  two 
hundred  square  miles. 

The  Osage  Lead  liegion  contains  a  considerable  portion  of  Colo,  Moniteau, 
Morgan,  Benton,  Camden,  Pettis,  Cooper,  and  Miller,  and  sonio  of  the  adjoining 
counties  —  an  area  of  about  ono  thousand  fivo  hundred  square  miles. 

The  Southern  Lead  Region  comprises  portions  of  Tane}^  Christian,  Webster, 
and  probably  other  counties  not  yet  surveyed  on  the  south.  Tho  extent  is  not 
known,  as  that  part  of  tho  State  has  not  been  fully  examined;  but  there  is  ai 
least  ono  hundred  square  miles  in  tho  counties  above  named. 

In  the  Eastern    Lead  Region "(,000  .S(ju;ire  inik'«. 

"       Scuthwest'n      "  200  " 

"       Osago  "  1,500 

*'       Southern  "  100  '* 

In  all  those  an  area  of. ., 0,800  square  miles. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  those  areas,  large  as  they  are,  contain  all  the 
load  lands  of  tho  State. 

We  have  not  yet  examined  a  single  county  south  of  the  Osage  and  tho  Mis- 
souri, save  in  tho  swamp  country,  without  finding  in  it  more  or  less  of  this 
valuable  mineral;  and  besides,  nearly  all  thcso  counties  are  underlaid  by  the 
true  lead-bearing  rocks  of  our  State.  We  have,  then,  six  thousand  eight  hun- 
dred square  miles  in  which  lead  deposits  in  workable  quantities  have  been  found 
and  successfully  ■svorked,  and  at  least  fifteen  thousand  square  miles  more  of 
lead-bearing  rocks,  -where  wo  may  reasonably  expect  to  find  valuable  deposits 
of  this  minoi'al.  Detailed  descriptions  of  many  of  our  load  mines  may  be  found 
in  the  State  Geological  Reports. 

Some  havo  supposed  our  mines  aro  like  those  in  Illinois  and  other  points  on 
tho  Upper  Mississippi,  and  that  they  would  soon  be  exhausted.  But  tho  mines 
of  Missouri  are  entirely  different  in  many  respects. 

1.  The\-  aro  in  entirely  different  formations.  Tho  lead  mines  in  the  South- 
west ajid  in  Cooper  county  are  in  tho  lower  carboniferous  rocks,  the  same  as 
the  lead-bearing  rocks  of  England,  which  have  been  worked  so  long  with  si> 
much  success;  and  tho  mines  in  tho  Eastern,  Southern,  and  Osago  lead  regions 
of  the  State  aro  in  tho  calciforous  sand-rock  and  Potsdam  sand^^tone  —  rocks 
much  older  than  tho  Galena  limestone. 

2.  Tho  lead-bearing  rocks  of  Galena  have  a  thickness  of  only  about  100 
feet,  whereas  the  lead-bearing  rocks  of  Missouri  are  more  than  1,000  feet  in 
thickness. 


70  ST.    LOUIS,    THE  FUTURE   GREAT    CITY. 

3.  The  veins  on  the  Upper  Mississippi  do  not  pass  through  into  the  forma- 
tions above  and  below  the  lead-bearing  limestone ;  they  stop  when  they  come 
to  the  sandstone.  In  Missouri  the  veins  cut  through  the  sandstone  above  and 
below  the  load-bearing  limestones,  as  at  the  Mount  Hope  mines. 

4.  In  Wisconsin  and  Illinois  there  appear  to  be  no  true  veins,  whereas  in 
Missouri  there  are  many  veins  like  the  true  veins  of  Cornwall. 

These  and  other  marked  differences  indicate  the  more  permanent  character 
of  the  Missouri  mines.  That  they  belong  to  the  same  class  as  the  more  perma- 
nent mines  of  England  and  Wales,  is  clearly  shown  by  the  following  charac- 
teristics, which  they  possess  in  common  with  the  best  mining  regions  of  the 
world.  No  one  who  is  familiar  with  the  geological  features  of  the  principal 
mineral  regions  of  the  globe  can  fail  to  observe  the  striking  characteristics 
which  our  mineral  region  has  in  common  with  many  of  the  most  important  in 
©ther  parts. 

1.  Proximity  to  igneous  or  eruptive  rocks.  It  is  a  well-known  fact  that 
nearly  all  the  great  mining  regions  of  Great  Britain,  Russia,  Hungary,  Ger- 
many Norway,  France,  South  America,  Mexico,  and  this  countrj^,  are  in  regions 
adjacent  to  igneous  rocks,  like  the  mineral  region  just  described.  There  are, 
however,  some  productive  localities  which  are  far  removed  from  any  known  or 
exposed  igneous  rocks.  The  localities  occupied  by  the  Kupfer  Schiefcr,  at 
Mansfeldt,  the  lead  region  of  the  mountain  limestone  in  England,  the  Upper 
Mississippi  lead  region,  those  in  the  southwestern  part  of  this  State,  and  some 
others,  seem  to  be  exceptions  to  this  rule.  The  mines  in  the  most  of  those 
exceptional  regions,  though  often  rich  and  vastly  productive  for  a  time,  have 
not  proved  so  extensive  and  durable,  as  their  mineral  deposits  seldom  occur  in 
true  veins. 

It  may  be  remarked  that  some  portions  of  the  mineral  region  of  Southeast 
Missouri  are  somewhat  removed  from  Iron  and  Madison  counties,  the  principal 
center  of  igneous  action  in  this  State;  but  we  have  good  reason  to  believe  that 
igneous  rocks  underlie  this  whole  mineral  region  at  no  great  depth,  since  they 
come  to  the  surface  in  a  few  places,  even  on  the  outer  borders  of  it,  as  in 
Crawford,  Washington,  St.  Genevieve,  Wayne,  Shannon,  and  Texas  counties. 
This  fact  being  understood,  this  whole  region,  in  its  relation  to  igneous  and 
eruptive  rocks,  is  the  peer  of  the  most  favored  mining  districts  in  the  world. 

2.  The  sedimentary  rocks  have  been  more  or  less  fractured,  tilted,  and  meta- 
moi'phosed  by  those  intrusive  or  igneous  rocks,  as  shown  by  the  metamorphic 
slates  at  Pilot  Knob  and  in  several  places  in  Madison  county.  The  same  results 
have  been  produced  on  Lake  Superior,  in  Cornwall,  and  in  many  other  rich 
localities. 

3.  The  several  kinds  of  igneous  rocks  have  been  forced  to  the  surface  at 
several  successive  periods.  This  is  true  of  our  region,  of  Cornwall,  and  of 
other  favored  mining  districts. 

4.  The  ores  occur  in  true  veins,  as  in  Cornwall  and  nearly  all  the  best  mines 
in  the  world. 

5.  Gossan,  a  porous  oxide  of  iron,  occupies  the  upper  part  of  many  veins, 
especially  those  of  copper,  in  this,  the  Cornwall,  and  many  other  districts  of 


ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE   GREAT    CITY.  71 

great  nilnei-nl  wealth.  This  cap  of  gos.san  — '' chopeuu  defer"  of  French 
minors,  and  " eiscrne  hut"  of  the  Germans  —  is  common  in  the  best  mining 
regions  of  Europe,  Asia,  and  America  —  in  Franco,  Cornwall,  Colorado,  Mon- 
tana, and  Missouri.  The  German  couplet  expresses  the  popular  opinion  among 
miners : 

"Es  ist  nic  iiitlit  Gang  so  gut, 
Dor  triigt  niclit  cineii  eiscrnon  Hut." 

No  vein  is  deemed  so  good 
J       As  one  that  lins  an  iron  hood. 

G.  Large  eruptive  masses  of  iron  ore  characterize  many  of  the  b6st  mining 
regions,  as  in  the  U^-al  Mountains,  Norwaj-,  Sweden,  Lake  Superior,  and  Mis- 
souri. These  mountain  masses  are  not  alwaN's  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the 
other  ores,  but  they  are  intimately  connected  with  the  disturbing  forces  which 
have  produced  the  mineral  veins. 

7.  As  a  general  rule,  the  true  veins  of  this  region  do  not  possess  such  woll- 
raarkod  and  extensive  selvages  as  this  variety  of  lodes  usually  do;  but,  like  the 
true  veins  of  Cornwall,  their  gangue  is  usually  connected  with  or  cemented  to 
the  wall-rock. 

8.  In  many  of  the  best  mining  regions  there  are  two  sets  of  veins  —  one 
running  nearly  north  and  south,  and  the  other  noarlj-  east  and  west.  One  set 
is  usually  more  productive  than  the  other. 

In  Missouri  there  is  an  approximation  to  this.  The  true  veins  of  Franklin 
county  usually  run  north  and  south,  but  there  are  others  which  run  cast  and 
west,  as  on  Mineral  Branch,  or  Lead  Hun,  near  the  Bourbeuse.  These  east  and 
west  veins  contain  some  galena  and  tiff,  but  they  have  not  been  sufficiently 
explored  to  prove  their  value. 

In  Cornwall  the  east  and  west  veins  aro  the  most  productive,  whereas  in 
Brittany  the  north  and  south  veins  are  the  richer. 

Beside  these  eight  most  important  characteristics  of  the  best  mining  districts, 
our  mining  region  has  others  in  common  with  them  all ;  but  I  will  not  enlarge 
upon  this  part  of  the  subject  further  than  to  mention  a  few  particulars  in  which 
tbis  region  is  strikingly  like  that  so  renowned  in  Cornwall : 

Igneous  or  eruptive  rocks  play  a  conspicuous  part  in  each  region.  Both  have 
'jranite  knobs  and  ridjrs ;  both  green  stone  and  syenitic  trap  di/kes.  Both  have 
mctamorphic  slates,  i[\Q  " killas"  o^  the  Cornish  minors.  Both  have  intrusive 
masses  of  porphyry,  or  porphyritic  dykes,  the  '^eleraus"  of  the  Cornish  miners. 
Both  have  true  veins,  in  which  the  veinstone  is  usually  cemented  to  the 
wall-rock  without  any  selvages.  Both  have  veins  with  gossaii  caps.  Both 
have  veins  containing  copper,  iron,  lead,  ::inc,  cobalt,  nickel,  and  silver.  Both 
have  about  the  same  varieties  of  the  ores  of  copper  and  some  other  metals. 
Both  have  about  the  same  elevation  above  the  ocean.  Both  have  similar  topo- 
graphical developtnents. 

The  lead  mines  of  Arkansas  and  the  L^ppcr  Mississippi  send  their  products 
to  St.  Louis.  The  p]nglish  mines  also  send  their  tribute,  as  will  the  ten  thousand 
lead  veins  of  Colorado  and  Montana. 


72  ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE   GREAT    CITY. 


This  motal  is  found  in  many  localities  in  the  State,  Several  varieties  of 
copper  ore  exist  in  the  Missouri  mines.  The  copper  mines  of  Shannon,  Madi- 
son, and  Franklin  counties  have  been  known  for  a  long  time.  Some  of  those 
in  Shannon  and  Franklin  were  once  worked  with  bright  prospects  of  success, 
and  some  in  Madison  have  ^yielded  good  results. 

Deposits  of  copper  have  been  discovered  in  Dent,  Crawford,  Benton,  Maries, 
Greon,  Lawu-ence,  Dade,  Taney,  Dallas,  Phelps,  Rej-nolds,  and  Wright  counties. 
But  the  mines  in  Franklin,  Shannon,  Madison,  Crawford,  Dent,  and  Washington 
give  greater  promise  of  yielding  profitable  results  than  any  other  yet  discov- 
ered. AVhen  capitalists  arc  prepared  to  work  these  mines  in  a  systematic 
manner,  they  may  expect  good  returns  for  the  money  invested. 


SulphureL  of  zinc  is  very  abundant  in  nearly  all  the  lead  mines  in  South- 
western Missouri,  particularly  in  those  mines  in  Newton  and  Jasper,  in  the 
mountain  limestone.  The  carbonate  and  the  silicate  occur  in  the  same  locali- 
ties, though  in  much  smaller  quantities.  The  ores  of  zinc  are  also  found  in 
greater  or  less  abundance  in  all  the  counties  on  the  southwestern  branch ;  but 
the  distance  from  market  and  the  difficulties  in  smelting  the  most  abundant  of 
these  ores,  the  sulphui-et,  have  prevented  the  miners  from  appreciating  its  real 
value.  It  often  occurs  in  such  large  masses  as  to  impede  very  materially  the 
progress  of  mining  operations.  For  this  reason  black-jack  is  no  favorite  with 
the  miners  of  the  Southwest.  Many  thousand  tons  have  been  cast  aside  with 
the  rubbish  as  so  much  worthless  matter;  but  the  completion  of  the  South- 
western railroad  will  give  this  ore  a  mai'ket  value  and  convert  into  valuable 
merchandise  the  vast  quantities  of  it  which  may  be  so  easily  obtained  in  Jasper, 
iSTewton,  and  other  counties  of  the  Southwest.  Considerable  quantities  of  the 
sulphuret,  carbonate,  and  silicate  also  occur  in  the  eastern  lead  regions.  At 
Perry's  mine^  at  Mount  Hope  mine,  and  at  a  locality  near  Potosi,  these  ores 
exist  in  some  considerable  quantities. 

Little  has  been  done  to  test  the  value  of  the  ores  of  zinc  in  these  and  other 
localities  in  the  State  ;  but  a  beginning  has  been  made  Avith  promising  results. 
There  is  an  extensive  vein  of  calamine  in  Taney  county,  which  will  doubtless 
prove  very  valuable. 

COBALT 

Exists  in  considerable  quantities  at  Mine  La  Motte.     It  has  been  found  in  one 
other  locality.     It  will  doubtless  be  discovered  in  other  places. 

NICKEL 

Is  also  worked  at  Mine  La  Motte  in  considerable  quantities. 

MANGANESE. 

The  peroxide  of  manganese  has  been  found  in  several  localities  in  St. 
Genevieve  and  other  counties. 


ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE   GREAT    CITI.  JS 


BILVEa 


Occurs  in  small  quantities  in  nearly  all  the  lead  mines  in  the  State,  in  com- 
bination with  the  ores  of  that  metal. 


Though  often  reported  in  large  quantities  in  sundry  localities,  has  never  beem 
worked  to  any  considerable  extent  in  any  part  of  the  State. 


Ores  said  to  have  large  quantities  of  tin  have  attracted  much  attention,  and 
much  money  and  labor  have  been  spent  in  efforts  to  mine  and  reduce  them ;  bul 
the  results  are  unknown  to  the  writer.  Flattering  reports  have  been  made  of 
the  yield  at  some  localitie 

PLATINUM. 

Some  parties  have  reported  platinum  in  small  quantities  in  the  dykes  of 
Madison  county. 

MASBLK. 

Missouri  has  numerous  and  extensive  beds  of  marble  of  various  shades  and 
quantities.  Some  of  them  are  very  valuable,  and  will  become  a  very  important 
item  in  our  resources. 

Fort  Scott  Marble  is  a  hard,  black,  fine-grained  marble,  with  veins  of  yellow, 
buff,  and  brown.  It  receives  a  fine  polish,  and  is  very  beautiful.  It  belongs  to 
the  coal  measures,  and  is  found  in  several  places  in  Kansas  near  the  Missouri 
line,  and  doubtless  extends  into  Missouri.  There  are  several  beds  in  the  St. 
Louis  limestone,  in  St.  Louis  county,  which  have  attracted  some  attention  aa 
fine  marbles.     Some  of  them  are  very  beautiful  and  durable. 

The  fourth  division  of  encrinital  limestone  is  a  white,  coarse-grained,  crys- 
talline marble  of  great  durability.  It  crops  out  in  several  places  in  Marion 
county.  One  of  the  best  localities  is  in  the  bluffs  of  the  Mississippi,  between 
McFurland's  branch  and  the  Fabius.  The  lithographic  limestone  will  furnish  a 
hard,  fine  grained,  bluish-drab  marble,  that  would  contrast  finely  with  whit« 
varieties  in  tesselated  pavements  for  halls  and  courts. 

The  Cooper  marble  of  the  Onondaga  limestone  has  numerotis  pellucid  crys- 
tals of  calcareous  spar  disseminated  through  a  drab,  or  bluish-drab,  fine,  compact 
base.  It  exists  in  great  quantities  on  the  La  Mine,  in  Cooper  county,  on  Lee's 
creek,  and  in  some  other  places  in  Marion  county.  It  is  admirably  adapted  to 
many  ornamental  uses.  There  are  many  extensive  beds  of  fine  variegated 
marbles  in  the  upper  silurian  limestones  of  Cape  Girardeau  county.  They  crop 
out  in  many  places  extending  from  Apple  Creek,  on  the  northern  boundary  of 
the  county,  to  Cape  Girardeau,  and  thence  along  the  bluffs  facing  the  swamps 
to  the  southwest.  Cape  Girardeau  marble  is  also  a  part  of  the  Trenton  lime- 
stone located  near  Cape  Girardeau.     It  is  nearly  white,  strong  and  durable. 

There  are  several  beds  of  ver}-  excellent  marble  in  the  magncsian  limestone 
series.     In  sections  thirty-four  and  thirty-five  of  township  thirty-four,  ranga 


74  8T.    LOUIS,    THE    FUTURE    GREAT    CITY. 

„hree,  east,  aro  several  beds  of  semi-crystalline,  light-colored  marbles,  beauti- 
fully clouded  with  buff  and  flesh  colors.  They  receive  a  fine  polish ;  are  durable 
and  well  fitted  for  many  varieties  of  ornamental  work  and  building  purposes. 
But  one  of  the  most  desirable  of  the  Missouri  marbles  is  in  the  third  magnesian 
limestone,  on  the  Niangua.  It  is  a  fine-grained,  crystalline,  silico-magnesian 
limestone,  light  drab,  slightly  tinged  with  peachblossom,  and  beautifully  clouded 
with  deep  flesh-colored  shades.  It  is  twenty  feet  thick,  and  crops  out  in  the 
bluffs  of  the  Niangua  for  a  long  distance.  This  marble  is  rarely  surpassed  in 
the  qualities  adapted  to  ornamental  architecture. 

There  are  also  several  other  beds  in  this  and  the  other  magnesian  limestones. 
Some  are  plain,  while  others  are  so  clouded  as  to  present  the  appearance  of 
breccias.  The  beautiful  Ozark  marbles  are  well  known.  Some  of  them  have 
been  used  in  ornamenting  the  Capitol  at  Washington  and  for  other  purposes. 
Wherever  the  magnesian  limestones  come  near  the  igneous  rocks  we  may 
expect  to  find  them  so  bl>anged  as  to  present  beds  of  these  beautiful  variegated 
mai-bles. 

LIMESTONES. 

There  is  a  great  variety  of  excellent  limestones  in  all  parts  of  Missouri  and 
in  many  localities  in  the  adjacent  States,  which  will  furnish  any  quantity  of 
the  best  materials  of  that  class  for  building  purposes.  Some  of  these  lime- 
stones have  been  much  used,  and  others  will  supply  the  increasing  demand  as 
the  means  of  transportation  are  extended  to  interior  localities. 

HYDHAULIO    LIME3 

Are  abundant  in  numerous  localities.  Some  of  them  have  been  tested  with 
good  results.  The  middle  beds  of  the  vermicular  sandstone  in  Cooper  and 
Marion  counties  are  hydraulic. 

The  upper  beds  of  the  lithographic  limestone  in  Marion,  Ealls,  and  Pike 
counties  possess  marked  hydraulic  properties;  and  several  limestones  in  Cape 
Girardeau  county  appear  to  be  hydraulic. 

The  upper  beds  of  the  Chouteau  limestone  in  Boone,  Cooper,  Moniteau, 
Pettis,  and  other  counties,  aro  in  the  highest  degree  hydraulic.  They  resemble 
the  hydraulic  strata  at  Louisville.  The  upper  and  lower  strata  of  the  Hudson 
river  group  have  the  same  properties.  The  same  is  true  of  some  portions  of 
the  magnesian  limestone  series  as  developed  in  some  parts  of  South  Missouri. 
From  some  of  these  sources  we  may  confidently  expect  an  abundant  supply  for 
home  consumption  and  all  demands  for  exportation. 

GYPSUM. 

Though  no  extensive  beds  of  gypsum  have  been  found  in  Missouri,  there  aro 
vast  beds  of  the  pure  white  crystalline  variety  on  the  line  of  the  Kansaa 
Pacific  railroad,  on  Kansas  river,  and  on  Gypsum  creek.  It  is  also  found  ia 
several  other  localities  accessible  to  St.  Louis  by  both  rail  and  boat,  as  at  Fort 
Dodge  in  Iowa,  and  on  the  liopublican  and  Blue  rivers  in  Kansas. 


ST.    LOUIS     THE   FUTURE    GREAT    CITY.  76 


CEMENT. 


All  of  the  limestone  formations  in  the  State,  from  the  coal  measures  to  the 
fourth  magnesian,  have  more  or  less  strata  of  very  nearly  pure  carbonate  of 
lime,  which  will  consequently  make  good  quick-lime.  But  few,  if  any,  of  the 
States  have  such  an  abundance  and  so  general  a  distribution  of  this  important 
article  of  domestic  use. 

CLAYS, 

Suitable  for  potters,  are  worked  in  many  localities  in  the  State.  There  will  b6 
no  lack  of  this  material. 

Kaolin  has  been  discovered  at  a  few  places,  and  worked  at  one  or  two. 

Brick  clays  have  been  discovered  and  worked  in  nearly  all  the  counties  where 
there  has  been  a  demand  for  them.  The  argillaceous  portions  of  the  bluflF  for- 
mation make  good  brick,  as  shown  in  the  brickyards  of  nearly  all  the  towns  on 
our  large  rivers  where  this  formation  abounds.  The  brickj-ards  of  St.  Louis 
are  suppliod  from  this  source. 

FIRE-BRICK 

Are  manufactured  from  the  fire-clays  of  the  lower  coal  series  in  St.  Louii 
county.  These  bricks  have  the  reputation  of  possessing  fine  refractory  prop- 
erties. There  are  many  beds  of  fire  clay  in  the  coal  measures.  Some  beds  of 
the  Hudson  river  group  in  Kails  and  Piko  counties,  of  the  Hamilton  group  in 
Pike  and  Marion,  and  of  the  vermicular  sandstone  and  shales  on  North  river, 
Bcem  to  possess  all  the  qualities  of  the  vor}-  best  fire-clays.  The  quantitj-  of 
these  clays  is  great,  almost  beyond  computation.  No  possible  demand  could 
exhaust  it. 

FIRE-ROCK 

Has  often  been  observed.  Some  of  the  more  silicions  beds  of  the  coal  measures 
are  very  refractory,  as  many  have  discovered.  The  upper  strata  of  the  ferru- 
ginous sandstones,  some  arenaceous  beds  of  the  encrinital  limestone,  the  upper 
part  of  the  Chouteau  limestone,  and  the  fino-grained,  impure  beds  of  the  mag- 
nesian  limestones,  all  possess  qualities  which  will  enable  them  to  withstand  the 
action  of  fire.  But  the  second  and  third  sandstones  are  the  most  refractory 
rocks  yet  examined.  They  are  used  in  the  furnaces  at  Iron  Mountain  and 
Pilot  Knob. 


There  are  several  beds  of  purple  shales  in  the  coal  measures  which  possess 
the  properties  requisite  for  paints  used  in  outside  work.  Numbers  ten,  thirty- 
one,  and  fifty,  of  this  formation  have  shades  of  a  bright  purple  color,  and  a  firm 
texture;  but  number  ten  possesses  the  best  qualities.  Yellow  and  rod  ochres 
are  found  in  consitlerablo  quantities.  Some  of  these  paints  have  been  thor- 
oughly tested  by  the  Hon.  Geo.  S.  Park  and  others,  who  have  found  them 
fire-proof  and  durable.     These  beds  are  on  the  Missouri  river. 


T6  ST.    LOUIS,   THE   FUTURE   GREAT    CITY. 


ROAD   MATERIALS 


In  any  desirable  quantity  may  be  obtained  in  the  drift  formation  and  in  the 
creeks  and  rivers  of  all  parts  of  the  State. 


There  is  an  abundance  of  coarse  reddish  granite  in  several  counties.  Some 
of  these  will  make  admirable  stone  for  heavy,  massive  structures, 

SANDSTONES, 

Of  various  shades  of  buff,  red,  and  brown,  occur  in  all  the  geological  systems 
of  the  State.  Many  of  them  are  firm  and  durable,  and  they  present  colors 
suited  to  various  styles  of  architecture. 

This  brief  and  general  view  of  the  deposits  of  useful  minerals  in  the  country 
tributary  to  St.  Louis  shows  that  Nature  has  been  lavish  of  the  materials 
necessary  for  the  growth  and  stability  of  a  great  city.  If,  in  connection  with 
these  vast  and  varied  mineral  products,  we  take  into  the  view  the  well-known 
facts  that  Missouri  and  the  adjacent  States  possess  soils  of  wonderful  fertility, 
and  in  varieties  suited  to  all  the  staple  crops  and  fruits  of  the  temperate  zone ; 
that  the  whole  region  is  intersected  by  rivers  and  creeks,  and  watered  by  count- 
less living  springs ;  that  it  is  groaning  beneath  boundless  forests  of  nearly  every 
variety  of  the  best  timber  on  the  continent ;  that  numerous  railroads  and  ten 
thousand  miles  of  river  navigation  center  here ;  that  we  are  in  the  great  high- 
way of  the  moving  populations  of  both  hemispheres,  we  shall  have  more  of 
the  causes  and  conditions  of  growth,  wealth,  and  permanence  than  have  ever 
surrounded  any  city  of  ancient  or  modern  times. 


IRON    FURNACES    AND    MILLS    IN    MISSOURI,    THEIR    CAPITAL    AND    CAPACITY    07 

PRODUCTION. 

Notwithstanding  the  immense  store  of  mineral  deposits  in  Missouri",  art  and 
industry  have  done  comparatively  little  in  rendering  these  mines  of  wealth 
serviceable  to  the  people  of  the  country.  The  following  statement  of  facts,  as 
given  by  one  of  our  principal  iron  merchants,  will  show  what  is  being  done  in 
Missouri  in  the  practical  development  of  the  iron  interest : 

St.  Loxns,  May  7,  1870.   fi 

L.  TJ.  Reavts,  Esq.:  Below  is  a  list  of  the  furnaces  and  mills  in  our  State,  all  of  which,  with' 
the  exception  of  the  rail  mill  about  being  erected  at  Carondolet,  are  or  will  be  in  full  blast  by  June! 
next.  The  rail  mill  should  be  completed  and  finished  by  December  next.  The  estimate  of  the 
working  capital  of  the  several  establishments  is  my  own,  and  may  not  be  entirely  correct,  i 


BT.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE    GREAT    CITY.  77 


CHABCOJLL    FX7RNACXS. 

Furnaces. 

Pilot  Knob ^ 2  

Iron  Mountain 2  

Irondale ^ 1  

lleramec 1  

Scotia 1  

Moselle ^ 1  


Capital. 
$1,000,0(X>    .... 

Capacity,  Ton* 
12  000 

1,000,000    .... 

12  000 

300,000      ... 

7  000 

300,000    .... 

6  000 

250.000    .... 

7  000 

250,000    .... 

6,000 

Total » 8      $3,100,000    60,000 

BTONK-COAL    AND    COKE    FURNACES. 

Furnacefl.                       Capital.  Capacity,  To 

Kingsland 2      $250,000    25,000 

Lewis 2      250,000      25,000 

Bouth  St.  Louis ^ 2      250,000    25,000 

Carondelet ». 1      150,000    8,000 


Total „ 7      $900,000  83,000 

BOLLmO  MILLS. 

Capital.  Capacity,  To 

Laclede  Eolling  Mills $.')00,000  10,000 

Kail  Mill,  Carondelet. 500,000  .-W.OOO 


Total $1,000,000    40,000 

RECAPITULATION-. 

Capital.  Capacity,  Toai 

M  furnaces... $4,000,000    133,000 

Mill* 1,000,000    40,000 

VALUE   OF   PB0DUCT8. 

183,000  tons  pig  iron,  at  $35., $4.fi55,000 

0,000  tons  merchant  iron,  at  $85 850.000 


Annual  product  value- $5,505,000 

I  have  no  means  of  arriving  at  the  number  of  men  directly  employed  in  the  several  establiA- 
»enta  named,  but  believe  that  2,000  would  be  alow  estimate. 

Yours  truly, 

JULES  Y.\LLB. 

Since  the  above  note  was  written,  Mr.  Yalle  having  stated  that  the  Kingsland 
Iron  Company  was  merged  in  the  Vulcan  Iron-worky,  to  make  railroad  iron, 
»nd  that  the  capital  invested  was  $1,000,000,  and  the  capacity  40,000  tons  of 
rails,  this  change  will  therefore  increase  his  previous  statement  $250,000  in 
eapital  and  10,000  tons  of  rails  in  capacity  —  leaving  the  capital  of  the  fifteea 
furnaces  at  84,000,000,  and  increasing  the  capital  of  the  mills  to  81,250,000, 
and  the  capacity  of  the  mills  to  50,000  tons,  and  the  value  of  rails  and  mer- 
ehant  iron,  at  885,  to  $4,250,000 ;  and  the  value  of  pig  iron  being  $4,655,000, 
the  total  value  of  pig  iron,  railroad  and  merchant  iron  will  therefore  amount 
to  $8,905,000. 


X8  ST.    LOUIS,    THE    FUTURE    GllEAT    CITY. 


An  extensive  business  is  carried  on,  in  many  parts  of  the  State,  in  the 
production  of  lead.  Quite  a  number  of  furnaces  are  in  active  operation, 
which  are  affording  a  constant  yield  for  the  markets.  Although  lead  mines 
in  Missouri  have  been  worked  for  more  than  one  hundred  years,  their  richness 
is  80  great  that  they  will  afford  a  profitable  field  for  labor  much  longer  than 
another  century. 

ZINC. 

The  production  of  zmc  in  the  State  is  quite  recent.  Some  three  or  four  fine 
mills  are  now  in  active  use  in  and  around  the  city,  preparing  the  zinc  for 
market.     The  number  will  no  doubt  be  increased  at  an  early  day. 

PLATE   GLASS   MANUFACTURE   IN   ST.   LOUIS. 

Among  the  exhaustless  treasures  of  mineral  wealth  in  Missouri  are  found, 
in  ample  abundance,  the  best  materials  for  the  manufacture  of  plate  glass,  of 
which  there  is  not  a  single  manufactory  in  the  United  States  worthy  the  name, 
to  supply  the  great  and  increasing  demand.  A  few  miles  below  St.  Louis,  on 
the  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  there  is  a  locality  admirably  suited  for  the 
purpose  of  making  plate  glass  —  an  exhaustless  mountain  mine  of  white  sand 
of  the  finest  and  best  quality,  at  the  door  of  the  works,  to  save  the  cost  of 
cartage.  Good  coal  can  be  obtained  at  a  short  distance,  and  brought  in  barges 
to  the  wharf,  which  has  a  frontage  of  two  thousand  feet,  and  deep  water.  Clay 
for  pits,  and  lime  for  flues,  and  other  materials,  are  easily  obtainable.  The 
best  grinding  sand  is  found  nearly  in  the  river,  of  which  a  large  quantity  is 
used.  Fire-brick  for  the  furnaces  can  be  had.  A  largo  supply  of  timber  is  on 
the  premises.  The  position  is  one  of  great  centrality  and  convenience  for  the 
conveyance  of  the  glass  to  market  by  water.  The  best  manufacturing  mill  has  been 
provided,  and  experienced  skilled  labor  has  been  secured  for  the  erection  of 
the  works  and  the  successful  manufacture  of  plate  glass  of  the  best  quality  and 
largest  dimensions  required.  The  enterprise  promises  large  aud  certain  profits, 
as  the  duty  on  plate  glass  is  sixty  per  cent,  per  square  foot.  Arrangements 
have  been  made  for  the  immediate  organization  of  a  plate  glass  company, 
under  the  auspices  of  public-spirited  and  influential  citizens  of  St.  Louis.  It 
will  be  an  honor  to  this  city  to  have  organized  and  put  in  successful  operation 
the  first  plate  glass  manufactory  in  the  United  States,  and  one  of  the  most 
profitable  investments  in  the  country,  and  of  permanent  value  to  the  property 
of  this  city. 

MISSOURI   TIN. 

The  fact  of  the  existence  of  tin  in  Missouri  is  established  beyond  a  question 
or  doubt.  Yery  rich  lodes  and  veins  are  found  in  Madison  county,  of  this 
State.  Small  quantities  are  known  to  exist  in  adjoining  counties,  and,  in  all 
probability,  will  be  found  in  other  parts  of  the  State  when  more  extensive  and 


ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE   GREAT    CITY.  79 

accurate  geological  surveys  are  made.  Tin  ore  from  the  Madison  county  lodo 
has  been  smelted  in  several  instances,  and  found  to  be  very  rich.  In  several 
cases,  the  smeiting  proved  the  ore  to  contain,  at  the  lowest  yield,  six  and 
one-half  per  cent,  of  pure  tin.  Other  smelts,  at  the  same  time,  yielded  eight 
and  one  half  per  cent,  of  pure  tin,  this  being  the  highest  yield.  Both  together 
make  an  average  yield  of  seven  per  cent,  pure  tin.  This  is  understood  to  be 
by  far  the  richest  yield  in  the  world,  and  the  quantity  of  ore  sufficient  to  supply 
the  world  with  tin. 

A  joint-stock  company,  with  a  capital  of  $200,000,  is  now  organized,  under 
the  name  of  the  Missouri  Tin  Company,  for  the  purpose  of  working  the 
mines,  and  the  company  will  proceed  at  once  to  erect  furnaces  and  machinery, 
for  the  purpose  of  smelting  tin.  This  enterprise  will,  without  question,  be  a 
valuable  contribution  to  the  mineral  development  and  industry  of  the  State  of 
Missouri. 

VALUABLE   STONES. 

Notwithstanding  the  great  variety  of  valuable  stone  in  the  State  of  Missouri 
for  building  and  finishing  purposes,  there  are  but  few  of  them,  in  comparisoa 
to  the  whole,  that  have  entered  into  serviceable  use  in  the  State,  and  such  a« 
have,  are  only  used  in  a  too  limited  extent.  It  is  time  this  negligent  policy 
among  our  builders  and  stone-cutters  were  abolished.  Why  should  we  go 
abroad  for  stone  when  we  cannot  surpass  in  beauty  and  value  that  which 
belongs  to  our  own  State  ?  Aside  from  the  many  valuable  quarries  of  marble 
and  hard  and  soft  stone  of  the  State,  which  are  generally  known,  we  have 
thought  proper  to  mention  two  or  more  specimens  which  are  not  so  well  knoira 
to  our  citizens,  and  the  use  of  which  is  improperly  neglected  by  our  buildert 
and  ornamental  stone  cutters.     There  is  the 


ROSS-ANTICO    MARBLE    OF   CAPE    GIRARDEAU. 

• 

This  is  a  fine  specimen,  as  well  as  quality,  of  variegated  and  somewhat 
chocolate-colored  marble.  Its  texture  is  fine,  and  is  susceptible  of  a  superior 
polish.  Its  strength  and  specific  gravity  is  nearly  equal  to  that  of  granite. 
It  will  sustain  a  pressure  of  more  than  fifteen  thousand  pounds  to  the  cabio 
inch.  This  valuable  stone  will  supply  a  great  want  in  our  city  and  State  for 
building  purposes,  as  well  as  for  tiling,  for  tablets,  paneling,  and  variout 
ornamental  uses  about  the  homes  of  the  wealthy  and  tasteful  of  our  people. 
Its  similarity  to  the  Etruscan  highly  befits  it  for  such  uses,  while  for  monu- 
ments and  out-door  buildings  it  will  hardly  be  surpassed  in  durability,  for  it 
has  already  been  thoroughly  tested  by  exposure  in  the  cemetery  at  Cape 
Girardeau.  It  abounds  in  large  quantities  in  Cape  Girardeau  county,  and  it 
easy  of  access,  and  can  be  put  into  market  without  difficulty.  The  quarry  out 
of  which  this  marble  is  now  obtained  is  in  the  hands  of  a  company,  Colouel 
Charles  Durfee  &  Co.,  who  are  making  great  efforts  to  bring  it  into  oooa- 
mercial  uee 


go  8T.    LOUIS,   THE  FUTURE   GREAT   CITY. 

HI.  LOUIS    MABBLE. 

Another  fine  quality  of  stone,  known  as  the  St.  Loujs  marble,  is  found  in 
great  abundance  in  St.  Louis  county,  about  twenty-five  miles  west  of  St.  Louis, 
near  Gloncoe  station,  on  the  Missouri  Pacific  railroad.  This  stone  is  of  a 
beautiful  greyish  color,  of  fine  texture,  and  susceptible  of  fine  polish,  and  is 
known  as  a  species  of  marble.  It  is  of  great  strength,  and  well  adapted  for 
building  purposes,  as  it  weathers  well.  A  company,  the  Messrs.  Terrys,  are 
msing  every  effort  to  bring  this  valuable  stone  into  market  and  practical  use, 
in  supplying  a  choice  material  for  many  of  the  new  buildings  of  our  city.  It 
i»  more  properly  defined  as  a  light,  variegated,  fossiliferous  marble.  The  bed 
is  compact,  without  lines  of  stratification,  and  favorable  for  getting  out  slabs 
or  columns  of  large  dimensions. 

MISSOURI  BLUE   GRANJTE. 

This  granite  is  found  in  St.  Francois  county,  on  the  line  of  the  Iroa 
Mountain  road,  at  Knob  Lick.  Its  complexion  is  a  hue  between  the  Quincy 
and  New  Hampshire,  and  sustains  the  great  pressure  of  18,444  pounds  to  the 
cubic  inch.  It  is  remarkably  fine-grained  and  uniform,  and  will  undoubtedly 
be  extensively  used  where  strength  and  durability  are  required  in  building. 

Other  valuable  marbles  are  found  in  different  parts  of  the  State,  but  not 
having  the  neceshaiy  facts,  a  special  description  of  them  must  be  omitted. 

QUEENSWARB. 

It  is  well  known  to  those  familiar  with  the  resources  of  Missouri,  that 
there  are  to  be  found  in  different  parts  of  the  State  quite  a  number  of  the  most 
raluable  clays  used  in  the  manufacture  of  queensware;  and  although  no  home 
effort  has  been  made  to  convert  these  raw  materials  into  useful  articles,  large 
quantities  have  been  exported  from  the  State,  and  made  into  wares  and 
returned  to  our  market,  to  be  distributed  to  the  trade,  which  ought  to  be 
•npplied  from  the  hands  of  our  own  industry.  Kaolin,  out  of  which  the  finest 
wares  are  made,  is  found  in  Cape  Girardeau  county  in  inexhaustible  quantities. 
And  why  it  is  not  converted  into  wares,  of  an  innumerable  variety  and  value, 
is  a  Btandmg  marvel  to  those  who  are  familiar  with  the  fact  of  its  existence 
and  quality.  Why  there  may  not  be  built  a  new  Staffordshire  in  that  county, 
supplying  to  the  continent  wares  for  every  kind  of  domestic  use,  we  cannot 
understand.  Enterprise,  capital,  and  skilled  labor  must  be  organized  and 
applied.  One  company  is  already  organizing,  and  without  question  will  meet 
with  great  success,  but  there  is  room  for  many  more.  How  often  must  it  be 
published  abroad  that  Missouri  has  many  resources  sufficient  to  supply  the 
people  of  this  great  valley  with  many  of  the  most  important  materials  required 
in  civilized  life?  and  yet  they  remain  undeveloped.  Will  those  who  have 
«apital  unoccupied  accept  of  the  advantages  ?  Let  us  have  a  Staffordshire  ia 
America,  a  workshop  equal  to  that  of  the  Old  World,  whose  labor  will  supply 
valuable  wares  to  the  millions  of  people  belonging  to  those  great  States  which 
surround  us. 


ST.   LOUIS,   THfi  rUTUKK   GRiiAT   CITY.  Si 


MISSOURI  AS  A  WINE-PRODUCING  STATE. 


BY    L.    D.    MORSE,    M.D., 

PBBSIDENT  MISSISSIPPI  VALLEY   GRAPE   GROWERS*   ASSOCIATION. 


It  is  a  little  over  twenty  years  since  grape  culture  was  commenced  ac  a 
business  in  Missouri,  since  which  it  has  steadily  increased,  and  rapidly  bo 
within  the  latter  half  of  the  period.  During  the  last  five  years  the  increase 
has  been  at  the  rate  of  about  300  acres  per  year.  Within  the  period  last 
named,  several  companies  have  been  formed  for  producing  wine  on  a  large 
scale.  The  Cliff  Cave  "Wine  Company,  in  the  south  part  of  St.  Louis  county, 
has  about  twenty-five  acres  of  vines,  sold  a  large  quantity  of  grapes  last  year, 
and  made  3,000  gallons  of  wine.  The  AugustatWine  Company,  of  St.  Charles 
•ounty,  has  22,775  vines,  and  made  last  year  8,000  gallons  of  wine.  The 
Bluffton  "Wine  Company,  of  Montgomery  county,  has  69,83-4  vines,  and  made 
last  year  from  the  portion  in  bearing  13,490  gallons  of  wine.  The  Missouri 
Smelting  and  Mineral  Land  Company,  of  Stanton,  Franklin  county,  is  engaged 
in  grape  growing  as  a  portion  of  its  business,  and  has  about  seventy  acres  of 
Tines  planted,  nearly  all  of  which  are  in  bearing  this  year. 

In  addition  to  the  foregoing,  we  have  the  American  "Wine  Company,  of 
Bt.  Louis,  started  several  years  earlier.  It  does  not  depend  upon  raising  grapes 
for  wine,  but  buys  largely,  and  claims  to  have  made  last  year  over  100,000 
gallons  of  still  wines,  and  half  a  million  bottles  of  champagne. 

The  vineyards  of  the  town  of  Hermann  yielded  last  year  over  150,000  gallons 
of  wine,  and  about  85,500  pounds  of  grapes  sold,  the  total  value  of  both  being 
•itimated  at  $157,557. 

In  the  Report  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture  for  1868,  partial  reports  from 
nineteen  counties  are  given,  the  average  footing  to  1,508.  Statistics  obtained 
last  year  by  the  Mississippi  Valley  Grape  Growers'  Association,  entirely 
reliable  so  far  as  they  go,  indicate  that  there  are  about  3,000  acres  of  vineyards 
in  the  Stale,  and  the  entire  value  of  the  grape  product  of  the  State  this  year 
will  not  be  less  than  §3,000,000. 

SUPERIORITY   OP   MISSOURI   GRAPES   AND   WINES. 

It  is  not  so  much,  however,  the  number  of  acres  planted  during  the  last  few 
years,  as  it  is  the  more  or  less  favorable  results  from  those  in  bearing,  and 
the  comparative  quality  of  the  fruit  and  wines  produced  therefrom,  which  tend 
to  determine  the  question  of  superiority  of  our  State  above  most  others. 


82  ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE    GREAT    CITY. 

What  little  statistical  information  has  been  gathered  thus  far  on  this  subject, 
and  the  very  imperfect  statements  and  incorrect  figures  given  in  the  various 
reports,  including  that  of  the  U.  S.  Agricultural  Department,  make  it  impossible 
to  give  reliable  comparisons;  but  even  this  last  named  report  shows  that  the 
average  produced  per  acre  in  Ohio  was  3,745  lbs.  grapes,  or  320  gallons  wine  ; 
it  was  in  Now  York  4,571  lbs.  grapes,  or  416  gallons  wine;  and  in  Missouri 
6,900  lbs.  grapes,  or  488J  gallons  wine.  A  more  reliable  proof  of  the 
Buperioi'ity  of  Missouri's  grapes  over  all  others,  we  find  by  comparing  the 
strength  of  the  must  by  Oechsle's  must-scale,  which  always  comes  out  in  favor 
of  Missouri,  even  against  the  most  celebrated  wine  localities  of  the  Union. 
This  is  due  to  climate  and  soil.  Eev.  Chas.  Peabody,  who  has  given  much 
attention  to  the  investigation  of  this  subject,  says:  "The  two  important 
natural  conditions  demanded  by  the  grape  are  climate  and  soil.  Given  these 
two,  all  the  rest  will  eventually  follow  from  the  application  of  the  skilled 
industry  of  the  vine-dresser.  In  this  portion  of  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi, 
we  find  these  two  elementary  conditions,  climate  and  soil,  existing  together. 
That  the  soil  and  climate  of  Missouri  and  the  adjacent  parts  of  other  States, 
especially  those  on  its  eastern  and  western  boundaries  (Illinois  and  Kansas), 
are  eminently  adapted  to  the  growth  of  the  grape,  is  a  point  too  well  estab- 
lished to  need  discussion  here.  The  fact  is  well  known  and  universally 
acknowledged  throughout  the  entire  district,  and  perhaps  I  may  venture  to 
add,  throughout  the  United  States.  Compared  with  other  sections  of  the 
United  States  (at  least  all  those  east  of  the  Bocky  Mountains),  so  far  as  their 
capabilities  have  been  tested,  our  advantages  for  the  production  of  wine  are 
certainly  superior." 

We  have  not  the  space  to  show  by  the  isothermal  lines^  ascertained  by  yeart 
of  actual  observation,  that  our  mean  temperature  during  the  various  seasons 
comes  nearest  to  those  most  celebrated  places  in  France  where  the  grape  is 
known  to  succeed,  and  must  confine  ourselves  to  but  few  data,  of  which  the 
following  tables,  extracted  from  essays  read  before  the  Mississippi  Yalley 
Grape  Growers'  Association,  will  afford  a  ready  comparison  : 

Place.  ^^3'       ^''P^'       ^'^^-       ^"V* 

deg.         deg.        deg.         deg. 

Cleveland 70.3        64.0        61.3        61. 6t 

Cincinnati 74.2        66.0        53.2        64.47 

St.  Louis 76.5        68.7        65.4        66.8« 

For  the  highest  development  of  the  wine  properties  of  the  grape  a  mean 
temperature  of  no  less  than  65^  Fahrenheit  is  demanded  during  the  season 
of  ripening.     In  the  tables  above  alluded  to  we  find  the  following: 

(~  Average  of— — ^ 

April.  May  July,  Aug. 

and  June.  ajid  Sept.  Six  months, 

deg.  in.  deg.  in.  deg.        in. 

Kelly's  Island,  O.,  1867 57.3        3.18  72.0        1.54  64.6        2.3S 

St  Louis,  Mo „  63.7        3.95  75.1        1.65  69.4        2.80 

Marseilles,  France 63.4  72.1  67.7 

Besides  the  high  temperature,  a  diminished  rain-fall  during  the  same  season 
ifl  essential  to  the  perfection  of  the  grape.     Dr.  Stayman,  of  Leavenworth, 


ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE   UKEAT    CITY.  88 

Kansas,  in  an  able  discussion  of  these  meteorological  influences,  comparing  the 
averages  of  Illinois,  Missouri  and  Kansas  with  those  of  New  York,  New 
Jersey  and  Pennsylvania,  for  18G7,  finds  a  difference  of  4.14®  more  heat  and 
6.45  inches  less  rain  for  the  months  of  Jul}-,  August  and  September,  and  for 
the  whole  period  7.20''  more  heat  and  10.38  inches  less  rain  in  favor  of  the 
Western  States. 

Wherever  Missouri  wines  have  been  tested,  in  comparison  with  those  of 
other  States,  either  at  home  or  abroad,  they  have  almost  invariably  taken  the 
highest  rank.  At  the  meeting  of  the  American  Potnological  Society,  held  in 
St.  Louis  in  September,  1867,  there  was  a  large  exhibition  of  American  wines, 
including  twenty  varieties,  from  various  States.  The  committee  on  Catawba 
wines,  using  a  scale  of  100  to  designate  degrees  of  excellence,  rated  tlie  best 
Missouri  sample  at  95,  and  other  samples  from  this  State  at  90,  84,  &c.  The 
highest  from  any  other  State  was  Illinois,  83  j  the  best,  from  Ohio,  was  rated  at 
70.  These  were  still  wines.  The  sparkling  Catawba  of  the  American  Wine 
Company,  of  St.  Louis,  were  rated  one  and  two  degrees  higher  than  samples 
from  the  celebrated  Longworth  Wine  House,  of  Cincinnati.  The  committee 
was  composed  of  two  gentlemen  from  Ohio  and  one  from  Washington. 

At  the  Paris  Exposition,  the  American  Wine  Company's  champ.agne  was 
awarded  honorable  mention,  and  diploma  sent  them  on  account  of  its  fine  flavor, 
although  the  French  jurors  remarked  it  had  too  much  of  the  fruity  taste.  The 
German  jurors,  accustomed  to  wines  of  high  bouquet  and  flavor,  were  very 
much  pleased  with  the  American  wines  which  possessed  these  qualities.  The 
American  committee,  consisting  of  the  Hon.  Marshall  P.  Wilder,  Alexander 
Thompson,  William  J.  Flagg,  and  Patrick  Barry,  said  :  "  From  what  com- 
parison we  have  been  able  to  make  between  the  better  samples  of  American 
wines,  on  exhibition  at  the  Paris  Exposition,  with  foreign  wines  of  similar 
character,  as  well  as  from  the  experience  of  many  European  wine-tabters,  we 
have  formed  a  higher  estimate  of  our  own  ability  to  produce  good  wines  than 
we  had  heretofore."  Wines  which  have  since  repeatedly  been  sent  to  Germany 
from  Missouri  have  been  highly  spoken  of,  and  were  pronounced  very  superior 
wines  by  the  best  connoisseurs.  It  is  also  a  notable  fact  that  the  trade  ia 
native  wines  has  assumed  such  proportions  in  St.  Louis,  that  even  her 
importers  of  foreign  wines,  who  have  heretofore  strongly  disfavored  any 
others,  feel  now  compelled  to  buy  and  keep  always  on  hand  the  Catawba, 
Concord,  and  Norton's  Virginia. 

There  are  several  other  varieties  that  are  destined  to  take  high  rank,  but 
have  not  yet  been  made  in  sufficiently  large  quantities  to  become  well  known. 
There  are  about  seventy-five  varieties  of  native  grapes  in  cultivation  and  on 
trial  in  the  State.  About  one-third  of  this  number  may  be  considered  as  well 
tested,  and  more  or  less  successful. 

Our  Concord  wine  is  becoming  more  and  more  popular,  and  should  take  the 
place  of  imported  clarets.  It  suits  the  uncultivated  taste  better  than  either 
claret  or  Catawba.  The  Norton's  Virgini.i,  as  it  becomes  better  known,  is 
more  and  more  esteemed  for  its  valuable  tonic  and  astringent  qualities.  As  a 
medicinal  wine,  it  is  not  excelled  probably  by  any  wine,  native  or  imported- 


84  ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE    GREAT    CITY. 

Catawba  has  generally  been  considered  too  acid  by  those  unaccustomed  to  it, 
but  it  makes  an  exceedingly  wholesome  and  palatable  summer  drink,  and  is 
especially  admired  in  the  form  of  Catawba  cobblers.  When  made  into  spark- 
ling wine  or  champagne,  it  has  a  very  agreeable  bouquet,  and  is  preferred  by 
those  who  become  accustomed  to  it  to  the  best  imported  champagne.  It  is 
purer,  contains  loss  alcohol,  and  is  rapidly  superseding  them. 

WINE   CONDUCIVE   TO   HEALTH  AND  TEMPERANCE. 

Taking  into  consideration  the  fact  that  the  manufacture  of  wine  is  yet  in 
its  infancy  in  this  country,  the  above  results  indicate  that  it  is  rajiidly  attain- 
ing a  prominent  place  among  the  leading  industrial  pursuits,  and  materially 
aiding  the  cause  of  temperance  by  decreasing  the  consumption  of  distilled 
and  fortified  liquors.     On  this  point  an  intelligent  writer  says  : 

"  Of  the  good  or  evil  effects  of  drinking  pure  wine,  Americans  have  small 
means  of  judging.  The  dogmas  of  total  abstinence  have  been  built  upon  facts 
existing  in  two  countries  where  pure  wine  is  an  almost  unknown  thing — upon 
British  and  American  facts.  Not  in  France,  not  in  Spain,  or  Portugal,  or  Italy, 
or  Switzerland,  or  South  Germany,  are  gathered  the  awful  statistics  of  the 
temperance  lecturer;  but  from  Britain,  from  America,  and  other  countries 
where  a  kind  of  necessity,  or  at  least  a  controlling  fatality,  has  led  to  the 
using  as  a  beverage  what  in  grape-growing  countries  is  hardly  known  save 
as  medicine. 

"  The  advocates  of  abstinence,  having  made  out  their  case  against  distilled 
spirits,  demand  judgment  against  wine  also.  Having  ishown  that  drinking 
whisky  or  rum  tends  in  a  dangerous  degree  to  make  men  drunkards,  they 
jump  to  the  conclusion  that  wing  drinking  must  also  tend  in  a  like  degree  to 
the  same  calamitous  result.     By  such  reasoners  it  is  assumed  : 

"  First,  that  alcohol  as  found  in  distilled  spirits,  and  alcohol  as  found  in 
wipe  that  has  not  been  distilled,  exists  in  both  cases  under  identically  th« 
same  conditions,  and  has  on  the  drinker  the  same  effects. 

"  Secondly,  that  foreign  wines  which  are  usually  consumed  in  America  and 
Britain  are  the  same  as  what  the  people  of  the  countries  which  produce  them 
drink  at  home,  and  the  same  as  what  we  should  drink  in  case  we  grew  our 
own  wines  at  home. 

*'  But  distilled  and  undistilled  alcohol  exist  under  very  different  conditions 
and  have  very  different  effects.  And  to  reason  from  Port,  Sherry,  and  Madeira, 
and  other  liquors  that  come  to  us  in  ships,  to  the  wines  that  will  spring  from 
our  own  soil,  if  our  vine  culture  bo  blessed,  is  by  no  means  admissible.  Simple 
alcohol  is  not  a  drink  at  all.  It  is  never  taken  without  a  large  admixture  of 
water,  and  usually  of  other  substances.  Brandy,  whisky  and  rum  contain 
nearly  as  much  water  as  they  do  of  alcohol,  even  before  being  diluted  for 
drinking;  while  wine  is  in  its  nature  a  very  delicate  combination  of  variom 
ingredients,  with  all  of  which  we  are  not  yet  fully  acquainted.  Alcoholic 
drinks,  then,  being  essentially  compounds  either  naturally  or  artificially 
formed,  they  cannot  be  fairly  judged  without  considering  the  properties  of  the 
substances  which  compose  them,  the  proportions  they  bear  to  each  other,  and 


ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE   GREAT   CITY.  85 

the  manner  in  which  they  combine.  And  to  assert  that  the  alcohol  which 
condenses  in  the  worm  of  the  atill  from  the  vapor  of  boiling  wine  is  the  very 
same  thing  to  the  drinker  of  it — to  his  stomach,  brain  and  nerves — that  it 
would  have  been  if  it  had  remained  united  with  all  those  other  constituents, 
with  the  sugar,  acids,  tannin,  rosin,  salts  and  others  which  wore  its  compauiong 
in  the  vine  sap,  were  elaborated  with  it  in  the  leaf,  and  ripened  with  it  in  the 
grape,  is  to  say  what  requires  the  strongest  proof  to  sustain  it.  But  no  such 
proof  exists,  while  the  contrary  can  be  abundantly  shown." 

As  conducive  to  health,  our  light  wines  possess  a  special  value  deserving  of 
more  general  appreciation.  It  has  been  said,  with  too  much  truth,  that  we  are 
a  nation  of  d3'Bpepiic.s.  For  the  cause  of  the  frequency  of  dyspepsia,  we  may 
rationally  look  to  the  habit  of  eating  fast,  boJting  the  food  in  a  half-masticated 
condition,  drinking  too  largely  of  water  and  other  liquids,  the  too  common 
use  of  salt  meat,  particularly  salt  fat  pork,  among  the  hard-working  classes, 
&c.  Thore  is  a  largo  portion  of  our  population  who,  although  not  confirmed 
dyspeptics,  are  yet  persons  of  feeble  digestive  powers — a  condition  sometimes 
brought  upon  themselves  by  their  own  improprieties  or  bad  habits,  and  quit© 
as  often  inherited  from  parents,  for  the  progeny  of  such  people  are  sure  to 
inherit  the  "family  failing."  Now  it  generally  happens  that  this  class  of 
people  are  under  the  necessity  of  accomplishing  more  work,  either  bodily  or 
mental,  than  they  are  physically  capable  of  doing  without  loss  of  vigor.  Their 
powers  of  assimilation  are  unequal  to  the  task  of  appropriating  of  each  meal 
sufficient  to  meet  the  interstitial  destruction  or  necessary  out  goings  of  the 
system.  Hence,  they  are  always  overworked,  and  live  a  life  of  faiigue.  Their 
muscles  are  soft  and  flabby,  and  their  vessels  deficient  in  tonicity.  They  are 
liable  to  disease  from  various  causes;  the  circulation  in  the  extreme  vessels 
being  weak,  they  are  unable  to  resist  the  effects  of  cold,  and  are  hence  liable 
to  congestions.  They  have  no  power  to  resist  malaria  or  contagious  diseases. 
Under  a  feeling  of  relaxation  and  fatigue,  they  often  resort  to  distilled  spirits 
to  their  injury. 

It  is  certain  that  the  habitual  daily  use  of  a  small  allowance  of  such  a 
stimulus  as  our  pure  wines  afford,  would  bestow  upon  such  persons  the  nervous 
energy  necessary  to  enable  them  to  digest  more  food  —  to  economize  the  waste 
of  the  system  —  to  perform  the  duties  of  life  with  more  ease  and  comfort,  and 
would  make  them  more  useful  members  of  society  instead  of  the  mere  drones 
they  often  aro  and  must  continue  to  be  under  a  total  abstinence  regimen.  li 
would  also  better  enable  them  to  resist  disease,  which  is  an  important  con- 
sideration in  malarious  districts.  When  moderately  taken  with  a  regular 
meal,  the  small  amount  of  stimulus  contained  in  the  light  wines  is  very  little 
felt;  no  unnatural  appetite  is  created  for  such  stimulus,  but  rather  a  fooling  of 
satiety  is  produced,  digestion  is  aided,  the  wants  of  the  system  are  better 
supplied,  and  there  is  less  inclination  or  craving  for  stimulus  between  meals. 
This  would  be  particularly  the  case  with  tho  class  referred  to,  who  need  "  wine 
for  the  stomach's  sake."  As  wine  would  enable  tho  body  to  appropriate  more 
food  and  gain  strength,  the  feeling  of  fatigue,  with  the  instinctive  craving  for 
stimulus,  would  be  removed. 

While  people  continue  to  drink  for  the  sake  of  drinking,  by  all  moans  give 
them  the  least  dangerous  article.  Let  it  bo  more  abundant  and  cheaper  than 
the  more  fiery  and  maddening  compounds. 

NoTK. —  The  American  Wine  Compnny  has  mndo  diinnij  tho  present  vcar  100,000  pallons  of 
wine,  and  from  ttio  vintni^o  of  1870  will  put  up  iilxuit  750.000  hollies  of  Iinporiiil  chiunpiis^ne. 
The  increiised  produrlion  by  o^hor  coinpnuies  furnishes  the  most  fiivonihle  showing,  for  the  rapid 
growth  and  increase  of  the  grupe  and  wine  busineaa  of  tho  Slalo  of  Alissour 


86  ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTUKE   GREAT   CITY. 


THE    CIVIL   AND  INDUSTRIAL  MISSION  OF  THE 
AMERICAN  PEOPLE. 


I  feel  more  deeply  than  ever  before,  Ihat  there  is  nothing  in  human  history  which  can 
compiire  in  interest  with  the  condition  of  the  American  continent  on  the  eve  of  "its  discovery 
and  colonization,  and  its  transition  into  the  sphere  of  civilized  and  Christian. culture,  looking  back 
from  our  present  point  of  view  upon  ihe  various  stages  of  this  transition,  as  one  great  operation  in 
the  order  of  Providence. 

Consider  it  a  moment :  there  it  lay  upon  the  surface  of  the  globe,  a  hemisphere  unknown  to 
the  rest  of  the  world,  in  all  its  vast  extent,  with  all  its  boundless  undeveloped  resources,  not  seen 
as  yet  by  the  eye  of  civilized  men,  unpossessed  but  by  the  simple  childrer.  of  the  forest.  There 
stretched  the  iron  chain  of  its  mountain  barriers,  not  yet  the  boundary  of  political  communities; 
there  rolled  its  mighty  rivers  unprotitably  to  the  sea  ;  there  spread  out  the  measureless  but  as  yet 
"wasteful  fertility  of  its  uncultivated  fields;  there  towered  the  gloomy  majesty  of  its  unsubdued 
primeval  forests ;  there  glittered  in  the  secret  caves  of  the  earth  the  priceless  treasures  of  its 
unsunned  gold  ;  and  more  than  all  that  pertains  to  material  wealth,  there  existed  the  undeveloped 
capacity  of  a  hundred  embryo  States;  of  an  imperial  confederacy  of  republics,  the  future  abode 
of  intelligent  millions,  unrevealed  as  yet  to  the  "earnest"  but  unconscious  "expectation  "  of  the 
elder  families  of  man,  darkly  hid  by  the  impenetrable  veil  of  waters.  There  is  to  my  mind  an 
overwhelming  sadness  in  this  long  insulation  of  America  from  the  brotherhood  of  humanity,  not 
inappropriately  reflected  in  the  melancholy  expression  of  the  native  races.  The  boldest  keels  of 
Phoenicia  and  Carthage  had  not  approached  its  shores.  From  the  footsteps  of  the  ancient  nations 
along  the  highways  of  time  and  fortune — the  embattled  millions  of  the  old  Asiatic  despotisms, 
the  iron  phalanx  of  Macedonia,  the  living  crushing  machinery  of  the  Roman  legion,  which  ground 
the  world  to  powder — the  heavy  tramp  of  barbarous  nations  from  "the  populous  north ;"  not  the 
faintest  echo  had  aroused  the  slumbering  West  in  the  cradle  of  her  existence.  Not  a  thrill  of 
sympathy  had  shot  across  the  Atlantic  from  the  heroic  adventure,  the  intellectual  and  artistic 
vitality,  the  convulsive  struggles  for  freedom,  the  calamitous  downfalls  of  empire,  and. the  strange 
new  regenerations  which  fill  the  pages  of  ancient  and  mediaeval  history.  Alike  when  the  Oriental 
myriads,  Assyrian,  Chaldean,  Median,  Persian,  Bactrian,  from  the  snows  of  iSj'ria  to  the  Gulf  of 
Ormus,  from  the  Half's  to  the  Indus,  poured  like  a  deluge  upon  Greece,  and  beat  themselves  to 
idle  foam  on  the  sea-girt  rock  of  Salamisand  the  lowly  plain  of  Marathon;  when  all  tho kingdoms 
of  tho  earth  went  down  with  her  own  liberties,  in  Koine's  imperial  mselstrom  of  blood  and  fire, 
and  when  the  banded  powers  of  the  West,  beneath  the  ensign  of  the  cross  —  as  the  pendulum  of 
eonr]uest  swung  backward  —  marclied  in  scarcely  intermitted  procession  for  three  centuries  to  the 
subjugation  of  Palestine  —  the  American  continent  lay  undiscovered,  lonely  and  waste.  That 
miglity  action  and  reaction  upon  each  other  of  Europe  and  America — the  grand  systole  and 
diastole  of  the  heart  of  the  nations  —  and  which  now  constitutes  so  much  of  the"  organized  life  of 
both,  had  not  yet  begun  to  pulsate.  The  unconscious  child  and  heir  of  the  ages  lay,  wrapped  in 
the  mantle  of  futurity,  upon  the  broad  and  nurturing  bosom  of  Divine  Providence,  and  slumbered 
serenely,  like  the  infant  of  Danae,  through  the  storm's  of  fifty  centuries. — Edward  EvjfiRETT. 

Ninety-four  years  ago  —  when  the  fifty-two  signers  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  appealing  to  the  Supreme  Judge  of  the  world  for  the  rectitude 
of  their  intentions,  declared  that  the  united  colonies  are,  and  of  right  ought  to 
be,  free  and  independent  States  —  but  few  of  the  most  sanguine  of  that  day 
dreamed  of  the  extent  and  greatness  which  this  country  would  attain  in  the 
comparatively  brief  space  of  a  century.  But  before  our  Independence  was 
achieved,  the  thought  of  continental  empire  had  already  entered  the  minds  of 
many  far-seeing  persons  in  this  and  other  lands.  "Prophetic  Voices  about 
America"  were  not  wanting  in  numbers  to  foretell  the  triumphs  of  that  spirit 
of  adventure  which,  in  the  fifteenth  century,  carried  Yasco  di  Gama  around  the 


ST.    LOUIS,   THE  FUTURE   GREAT   CITY.  87 

Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  Columbus  to  America.  Even  the  age  Beoracd  to  be 
instinctive  with  a  better  life,  and  prophets  of  one  land  and  heroes  of  another 
wore  unqualifiedly  pointing  to  America  as  the  place  for  the  future  empire  of 
the  world. 

As  early  as  1755,  John  Adams,  but  twenty  years  old,  and  the  future  states- 
man of  Massachusetts,  wrote  to  a  friend  in  the  following  words:  "Soon  after 
the  reformation  a  few  people  came  over  into  this  new  world  for  conscience 
take.  Perhaps  this  apparently  trivial  incident  may  transfer  the  greit  seat  of 
trrifiire  into  America.  It  looks  likely  to  me;  for  if  we  can  remove  the  turbulent 
Gallics,  our  people,  according  to  the  most  exact  computations,  will  in  another 
century  become  more  numerous  than  in  England  itself.  Should  this  be  the 
case,  since  we  have,  I  may  say,  all  the  naval  stores  of  the  nation  in  our  hands, 
it  will  be  easy  to  obtain  a  mastery  of  the  seas,  and  the  united  force  of  all 
Europe  will  not  be  able  to  subdue  us." 

This  was  the  expression  of  a  young  school-teacher  twenty-one  years  before 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  made  by  the  colonies.  John  Adams 
lived  to  see  a  system  of  government  founded  which,  with  broad  and  compre- 
hensive policies,  was  destined  to  bring  forth  upon  the  American  continent  a 
nation  of  grander  proportions  and  greater  triumphs  in  civilization  than  hi* 
most  enlarged  understanding  could  comprehend. 

His  son,  John  Quincy  Adams,  at  a  later  day,  remarked  of  his  father's  letter: 
"  Had  the  political  part  of  it  been  written  by  the  minister  of  state  of  a 
European  monarchy,  at  the  close  of  a  long  life  spent  in  the  government  of 
nations,  it  would  have  been  pronounced  worthy  of  the  united  wisdom  of  a 
Burleigh,  a  Sully,  or  an  Oxenstiern.  In  one  bold  outline  he  has  exhibited  by 
anticipation  a  long  succession  of  prophetic  history,  the  fulfillment  of  which  is  barely 
yet  in  progress,  responding  exactly  hitherto  to  his  foresight,  but  the  full  accom- 
plishment of  which  is  reserved  for  after  ages." 

Next  to  John  Adams  stands  Mr.  Jeiforson,  with  clear  conceptions  of  the 
future  of  the  American  nation.  Soon  after  the  treaty  with  the  Kaskaskia 
Indians,  by  which  was  acquired  a  broad  belt  of  territory  extending  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Illinois  river  to  and  up  the  Ohio,  Mr.  Jefferson  first  began  to  look 
with  serious  consideration  to  the  future  greatness  of  the  nation  ;  and  that 
treaty,  together  with  the  Louisiana  purcha^ie,  led  him  to  say  that  he  "  would 
not  give  one  inch  of  the  waters  of  the  Mississippi  river  to  any  nation."  And 
with  prophetic  conception  he  was  again  led  to  say:  "  When  we  shall  be  full  on 
this  side  the  Mississippi  river  we  may  lay  off  a  range  of  States  on  the  western 
bank,  from  the  head  to  the  mouth,  and  so,  range  after  range,  advancing  com- 
pactly as  we  multiply." 

In  addition  to  the  Louisiana  purchase,  Texas  was  annexed  in  1845.  New 
Mexico,  California,  and  all  the  territory  between  the  Mississippi  river  and  the 
Pacific  ocean  has  been  added  within  the  present  century;  and  in  rapid  sucv 
cession  has  State  after  State  come  into  the  Union,  and  the  tologrnph,  the 
railroad,  the  steamboat,  the  printing-press,  and  the  school-house,  have  followed 
on  in  this  groat  march  of  empire,  and  taken  the  place  of  the  Indian  trail, 
the  wigwam,  the  hunting-ground,  and  the  home  of  the  buffalo. 


88  ST.    LOUIS,    THE  FUTURE   GREAT   CITY. 

Turn  which  way  we  will,  upon  this  "vast,  wide  continent,"  and  we  see  th« 
cbain  of  empire  being  made  complete  under  one  all-embracing  Constitution. 
Climates  of  every  character,  minerals  of  every  quality  and  value,  rivers 
stretching  in  great  lengths  and  uniting  every  zone,  all  combine  to  give  greatness 
and  destiny  to  this  nation,  made  of  the  wisdom  and  excellences  of  all  nations, 
and  this  people,  made  of  the  commingled  and  regenerated  blood  of  all  people. 
Sublime  thought!  Grandest  and  broadest  of  our  age;  that  which  energizes  th« 
individual  and  regales  the  future  with  royal  promise. 

At  the  beginning  there  were  thirteen  sparsely  populated  colonies;  now  w» 
have  thirty-seven  powerful  States,  and  ten  large  Territories  on  the  threshold 
of  membership.  The  following  statistics,  showing  the  means  and  degrees  by 
which  the  great  Empire  of  the  West  has  been  regarded,  will  be  read  witk 
thrilling  interest  by  every  American  citizen  : 

New  Statks  and  Territories — When  Admitted. — Under  President  Wash- 
ington's administration,  the  following  new  States  were  admitted :  Yermont,  im 
the  year  1791;  Kentucky,  in  1794;  Tennessee,  in  1796. 

Under  President  Jefferson's  administration,  the  following  new  States  and 
Territories  were  added  to  the  Union :  Ohio,  in  the  year  1802 ;  Louisiana, 
purchased  in  1804.  This  purchase  contained  space  enough  for  fifty  new  States. 
It  gave  to  the  United  States  the  entire  control  of  the  Mississippi,  the  outlets 
of  which  had  hitherto  been  in  the  hands  of  a  foreign  power.  Territorial  gOT- 
ernments  were  organized  in  Mississippi,  Indiana  and  Louisiana. 

Under  President  Madison's  administration,  the  following  addition  was  made 
to  the  Union  :    Indiana,  in  the  year  1816. 

During  the  administration  of  President  Monroe,  the  following  States  wers 
added  to  the  Union  :  Mississippi,  in  the  year  1817;  Illinois,  in  1818;  Missouri, 
in  1821;  Maine,  in  1820;  Florida,  purchased  in  1821. 

Under  the  administration  of  President  Jackson,  the  following  States  wers 
admitted  :     Michigan,  in  the  year  1837 ;  Arkansas,  in  1836. 

During  the  administration  of  President  Polk,  the  following  new  States  wers 
admitted  :  Texas,  in  the  year  1845  ;  Iowa,  in  1845;  Florida,  in  1845;  Wisconsin, 
in  18 17 ;  California,  New  Mexico  and  Utah  were  bought. 

Under  the  administrations  of  Presidents  Taylor  and  Fillmore,  the  following 
State  was  admitted  :  California,  in  the  year  1850.  The  following  new  Territories 
were  organized :  New  Mexico  and  Utah,  in  the  year  1850  ;  Washington  in  1853. 

Under  President  Pierce's  administration,  Arizona  was  purchased. 

Under  the  administration  of  President  Buchanan,  the  following  States  wers 
admitted:  Minnesota,  in  the  year  1857;  Oregon,  in  1859;  Kansas,  in  1861; 
Dakotah  Territory  organized  in  1861. 

During  the  administration  of  President  Lincoln,  the  following  States  wer« 
admitted:  West  Virginia,  in  the  year  1862;  Nevada,  in  1864.  The  following 
Territories  were  also  organized:  Arizona,  in  the  year  1863;  Idaho,  in  1863; 
Montana,  in  1864. 

Under  the  administration  of  President  Johnson,  the  Territory  of  Wyoming 
was  organized  in  1868;  Northwestern  America,  or  Alaska,  was  purchased,  bj 
treaty  of  May  28,  in  the  year  1867. 


ST.    LOUIS,    TUE   FUTUllE   QUEAT    CITY.  89 

Thus  stands  Iho  record  to-day  of  tlio  American  nation,  with  a  population 
running  IVoni  3,000,000  in  the  year  177G,  up  to  42^)00^000  in  the  year  1870. 
Our  coinmerco,  in  the  year  1701,  was  valued  at  §52,000,000  imports  and 
$19,000,000  exports.  Now  the  imports  of  merchandise  to  our  country  are,  at 
sold  value,  8280,519,344,  and  our  national  wealth  ct.tiMialc<l  at  §23,400,000,000, 
*l  an  annual  increase  of  $921,700,000.  * 

Our  principal  agricultural  products  are  estimated  at  $3,282,950,000,  and  our 
oiitiro  industrial  resources  are  valued  at  84,223,000,000. 

How  marvelous  the  progress  of  our  people  !  and  with  us,  instead  of  colonies 
AS  with  Britain,  wo  acquire  strengtli  and  greatness  by  effacing  the  boundary 
lines  of  conterminous  countries  b}'  treaty,  and  absorb  the  new  regions  into  the 
Federal  family,  the!,'eby  consolidating  whenever  we  extend  our  national  domain 
and  power.  Turning,  then,  from  the  mightiness  of  the  American  nation  at  the 
l»resent  time,  and  looking  forward  to  the  future,  we  are  to  inquire  what  will  be 
its  civil  mission,  and  what  the  industrial  career  of  its  people.  What  are  to  bo 
the  future  honors  and  the  glory  of  the  Eepublic  ?  Over  what  lands  is  her  flag 
yet  to  float?  To  what  people  are  her  laws  yet  to  give  protection?  What 
grand  victories  is  she  yet  to  achieve  in  the  future  empire  of  the  world  ?  Those 
are  questions  now  being  inspired  by  tho  loftiest  patriotism  of  the  American 
statesman,  and  everywhere  is  growing  up  in  the  hearts  of  tho  people  tho 
thought  of  a  transcendent  national  destiny  for  tho  great  llepublic  of  the  world. 

But  before  wo  consider  this  branch  of  tho  subject,  let  us  consider  tho  essential 
industrial  mission  of  our  people,  their  future  commerce,  their  accumulation  of 
wealth,  and  their  future  great  field  of  labor.  These  things  are  held  as  being 
pertinent  to  the  subject  of  tho  future  great  city  of  the  world. 

It  is  already  evident  that  tho  industrial  mission  of  our  people  will,  at  least, 
be  continental;  that,  since  tho  landing  of  tho  Pilgrims  upon  tho  narrow  belt  of 
the  Atlantic,  and  their  career  in  that  land  which  Do  Tocquevillo  called  an 
'•  inhospitable  clime,"  there  has  been  one  stead}'  march  of  the  American  people 
from  tho  Atlantic  toward  the  Pacific.  Commerce  was  tho  inccntivo  that  urged 
on  the  civil  conquest  of  tho  continent;  that  spread  the  fleet  of  boats  upon  our 
Western  waters,  directed  tho  ships  around  Capo  Ilorn  and  to  our  Pacific  coast, 
ftuil  drove  tho  hundreds  of  thousands  of  wagons  across  the  arid  plains  of  our 
eontinent. 

Tho  civil  conquest  of  our  own  land  is  about  to  bo  accomplished  by  tho 
meeting  of  tho  Eastern  and  Western  columns  of  American  civilization  in  the 
central  plain  of  tho  continent,  and  the  advance  of  tho  North  and  South  flanking 
'Columns,  which  are  now  rapidly  tending  to  tho  center.  But  this  civil  conquest 
accomplished,  what  remains  for  tho  restless,  pioneering,  and  homeless  Americans 
to  do?  Thoy  cannot  sta}-  within  the  boundary  linos  of  our  great  KepuMic  when 
other  lands  furnish  a  field  for  adventure,  speculation,  and  skill.  Tlion  it  is  wo 
are  to  look  beyond  to  tlie  higher  aspects  of  tho  indu-lrial  mission  of  our  people. 
To  our  continent  belong  five  systems  of  water  navigation  :  First,  tho  Atlantic 
Ocean  system;  second,  the  Eiver  system;  third,  the  Lake  system;  fourth,  the 
(iulf  system;  and  fifth,  tho  Pacific  Ocean  system.  The  canal  system  is  only 
auxiliary.     Nature  gave  those  system;". 


90  ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE   GREAT    CITY 

After  them  comes  a  mightier  system  of  oommercial  facilities— the  railways 
civilization  has  given  to  man.  This  system  supersedes  oceans,  lakes  and 
rivers,  and  this  S3'stem  must  control,  in  the  future,  the  higher  commercial  and 
industrial  destines  of  all  people ;  while  the  ocean  systems  of  commerce  av^ 
destined  to  become  the  most  obsolete  of  all  these  fixcilities  afforded  to  man.  Of 
the  five  water  syst^a  of  navigation  belonging  to  our  continent,  the  river 
sj-stem  is  hv  far  the  most  valuable,  and^  with  the  Gulf,  is  destined  to  control 
the  foreign  commerce  of  our  continent;  and  both,  united  to  our  railway 
system,  fix  the  industrial  mission  of  our  people  henceforth  to  the  far-off  yearr^ 
of  the  future. 

Civilization  is  rapidly  reversing  the  order  of  nature.  To  the  barbarian  and 
aetni-barbarian  nations,  the  oceans  were  facilities  for  exchanging  their  com- 
merce, the  land  an  obstacle;  but  civilization  is  about  to  reverse  the  order,  and 
transform  the  land  into  a  facility  and  the  oceans  into  obstacles.  The  car  will 
take  the  jilace  of  the  ship,  and  the  land  of  the  ocean,  and  commerce  will  find 
its  goal  in  continental  development;  and  not,  as  heretofore,  beyond  distant 
oceans  and  among  the  islands  of  the  sea.  The  railway  systems  of  continents 
and  the  world  are  soon  to  be  the  great  rule  of  commerce,  while  ships  will  hv 
the  exception.  Already  the  maritime  nations  of  the  earth  foresee  their  doom 
in  the  coming  reversal  of  the  order  of  things,  and  are  struggling  to  hold  the 
seas  supreme  over  the  land,  the  ships  over  the  cars;  hence  their  aggressions 
upon  the  land  in  their  haste  to  sever  continents,  that  the  ships  may  pass 
through  and  speed  on  to  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth. 

But  befoi-e  we  further  consider  the  railway  system  as  destined  to  control 
and  direct  the  future  industry  of  the  world,  let  us  go  back  and  consider  for  one 
moment  the  commerce  of  the  globe,  which  the  nations  are  now  strivinj,: 
to  control.  Since  the  discovery  of  America,  perhaps  there  has  been  no 
artificial  improvement  to  M-hich  so  much  importance  has  been  attached  in  its 
bearing  upon  the  future  commerce  of  the  world  as  the  construction  of  the 
Pacific  railway,  and  no  man  better  vindicated  the  importance  of  such  a  facility 
across  the  continent  than  the  Hon.  Thomas  H.  Benton,  in  the  many  speeches 
he  made  from  time  to  time  in  favor  of  its  construction,  and  from  one  we  make 
the  following  pointed  quotation  touching  the  great  importance  of  the  road  in 
its  bearing  upon  the  commerce  of  the  world.  Hear  his  plea:  "I  enforce 
another  advantage,  not  so  immediate,  but  obvious  to  the  thinking  mind,  and 
important  to  America,  Europe,  and  Asia;  and  which,  in  changing  a  channel  of 
rich  commerce,  may  have  its  effect  upon  the  wealth  and  power  of  nations,  and 
operate  a  change  in  the  maritime  branch  of  national  wars.  I  allude  to  the  East 
Ind^a  trade,  already  incidentally  touched  upon,  and  the  change  of  its  channel 
from  the  water  to  the  land,  and  the  effect  of  that  change  in  nullifying  the 
maritime  supremacy  of  naval  powers  by  making  continents,  instead  of  oceans, 
the  great  theaters  of  international  commerce.  No  events  in  the  history  of 
nations  have  had  a  greater  effect  on  the  relative  wealth  and  power  of  nations 
than  the  changes  which  have  been  going  on  for  near  three  thousand  years  in 
th«  channels  of  Asiatic  commerce.  During  that  time  nations  have  risen  and 
fallen,  as  they  possessed  or  lost  that  commerce.     Events  announce  the  forth- 


ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTUUK    GUEAT    CITY.  91 

comini^  of  a  now  change.  The  land  becoming  a  facility  and  tho  ocean  an 
obstacle  to  foreign  trade,  must  have  an  effect  upon  Europe,  conterminous  upon 
Asia^  and  upon  America,  separated  from  it  by  a  western  sea  over  which  no 
European  power  can  don\itiate.  I  confine  myself  to  the  American  branch  of 
tho  question,  and  glance  at  the  past  to  get  an  insight  into  the  future.  I  look 
to  former  channels  of  this  Asiatic  commerce — their  changes,  tho  effects  of  the 
changes — and  infer  from  what  has  been,  what  may  be — from  what  is,  to  what 
will  1.0. 

"I.  TJie  Fhoenician  Route. — Tyre,  queen  of  cities,  was  its  first  emporium. 
The  commerce  of  tlie  East  centered  there  before  the  captivity  of  tho  Jews  in 
Babylon,  upwards  of  six  hundred  years  before  the  coming  of  Christ.  Nebuchad- 
nezzar, King  of  Babylon,  conquered  Tyro  and  razed  it  to  its  foundations  j  but  ho 
was  no  statesman — merely  a  destroyer — and  did  not  found  a  rival  cityj  and 
tho  continuance  of  tho  India  trade  quickly  restored  tho  queen  of  cities  to  all 
her  former  degree  of  prominence  and  power.  Alexander  the  Great  conquered 
her  again.  lie  was  a  statesman,  and  know  how  to  build  up,  as  well  as  how  to 
pull  down,  and  looked  to  commerce  for  e.xalting  and  enriching  that  magnificent 
empire  which  his  war  genius  was  conquering.  He  f()unded  a  rival  city  on  the 
coast  of  Eg\-pt,  better  adapted  to  the  trade;  and  the  prophecy  of  Ezokiel 
became  fulfilled  on  Tj-ro :   she  became  a  place  for  fishermen  to  dry  their  nets. 

"II.  The  Jewish  Route. — In  tho  time  of  Solomon  and  David,  tho  Jews 
succeeded  to  tho  East  India  trade,  made  it  a  loading  subject  of  their  policy,  and 
became  rich  and  powerful  upon  it.  Jerusalem  rivaled  Nineveh  and  Babylon  ; 
and  Palmyra,  a  mei-e  thoroughfare  in  the  trade  in  tho  midst  of  a  desert,  became 
the  seat  of  power  and  opulence,  of  oriental  magnificence,  and  the  center  of  the 
arts  and  sciences.  The  Jews  lost  that  trade,  and  Jerusalem  became  as  a  widow 
in  the  wilderness,  and  Palmyra  a  den  for  foxes  and  Arabs. 

"III.  The  Alexandrian  Route. — This  was  opened  by  Alexander  the  Great; 
its  course  along  tho  canal  of  Alexandria  to  tho  Nile,  up  that  rivor  to  Coptas  ; 
thence  across  tho  desert  with  camols  to  tho  Dead  Sea,  and  down  that  sea  to 
tho  neighboring  coasts  of  Asia  and  Africa  —  a  route  chosen  with  so  much 
judgment  that  it  made  Alexandria  and  Egypt  the  seats  of  wealth,  power. 
learning,  tho  arts  and  sciences,  and  continued  to  be  the  channel  of  trade  for  a 
period  of  eighteen  hundred  years — from  three  hundred  years  before  Christ  to 
tho  close  of  the  fifteenth  century — when  the  Portuguese  discovery  of  the  passage 
by  tho  Cape  of  Good  IIopo  annihilated  tho  Egyptian  route,  and  transferred  t«» 
Lisbon  the  glories  of  Alexandria.  But  not  without  a  groat  contest.  Solyman 
tho  Magnificent,  then  Sultan  of  tho  Turkish  Empire,  fought  the  Portuguese  for 
I  ho  dominion  of  routes — carried  on  long  and  bloody  wars  to  break  up  the  Cape 
.  of  Good  Ilope  route,  assisted  by  tho  Venetians,  because  of  their  interest  in  tho 
Egyptian  route,  and  menacing  Christendom  —  tins  alliance  of  Christian  ami 
Saracen  against  Christians — according  to  tho  Abbo  Raynal,  indorsed  by  the 
philosophic  historian  Robertson,  with  the  '  most  illiberal  and  humiliating  servi- 
tude that  over  oppressed  polished  nations.'  From  this  calamity  Cliristendoui 
was  saved  by  the  valor  of  tho  Portuguese  and  tho  talents  of  their  renowned 
commander,  Alltuquerquo  ;  but  the  contest  shows  the  value  which  all  nations 


92  ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTUIlE    GREAT    CITY. 

placed  on  the  possession  of  this  trade,  and  the  reversed  conditions  of  Alex- 
andria and  Lisbon,  of  Egypt  and  Portugal,  upon  the  defeat  of  the  Turks  and 
Venetians,  shows  that  that  value  was  not  ever-estimated. 

"IV.  The  Const  ant  inopUt  an  Route. — This  became  fully  established  in  the 
time  of  the  Greek  Empire,  and  during  the  two  hundred  years  of  the  Crusade 
irruptions,  and  to  which  the  enlightened  part  of  the  Crusaders  greatly  contrib- 
uted. For,  while  a  religious  frenzy  operated  upon  the  masses,  the  extension 
of  their  trade  with  India  was  the  systematic,  persevering,  and  successful  policy 
of  all  liberal  and  enlightened  minds,  availing  themselves  of  that  frenzy  to 
promote  and  establish  the  commerce  upon  the  possession  of  which  the  suprem- 
acy of  nations  .depended.  It  was  fully  established;  and  the  long  and  tedious 
transit  across  the  Black  Sea  to  the  mouth  of  the  Phases,  up  that  river  to  a 
portage  of  five  days  to  the  Cyrus,  down  that  river  to  the  Caspian  Sea,  across  it 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Oxus,  up  it  nine  hundred  miles  to  Samarcand,  once  Alex- 
andria, the  limit  of  Alexander's  march  to  the  northeast;  and  after  this  long 
travel,  an  overland  journey  of  ninety  days  on  the  Bactrian  camel  to  the  confines 
of  China,  commenced.  Such  was  this  extended  route.  Yet  it  was  upon  this 
route,  80  extended  and  perilous,  that  Europe  was  supplied  with  East  India 
goods  for  several  centuries  ;  the  pi'ofits  of  the  trade  being  so  great  that  after 
its  arrival  at  Constantinople,  it  could  still  come  on  to  Italj',  and  even  round  to 
Bruges  (Brussels)  and  to  Antwerp.  It  was  upon  this  route  that  the  Genoese 
established  their  great  commerce,  gaining  permanent  establishments  with  great 
privileges  at  Constantinople  (its  suburb  Pera)  and  in  that  Crimea,  then 
resplendent  with  wealth,  since  impoverished,  now  the  scene  of  bloody  stinfe  ; 
and  of  which  the  issue  w/)uld  be  fortunate,  if  it  restored  the  Crimea  to  what  it 
was  when  Caffa  was  as  celebrated  as  Sebastopol  is  now,  and  celebrated  for 
streams  of  commerce  instead  of  streams  of  blood.  But  to  this  route  of  Con- 
stantinople the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  passage  became  as  fatal  as  it  was  to  that 
of  Alexandria. 

''V.  The  Ocean  Eoute. — It  has  been  the  line  of  the  East  India  trade  since  the 
close  of  the  fifteenth  centurj'-,  and  must  have  continued  to  be  so  forever  if  a 
marvel  had  not  been  wrought,  and  the  land  become  the  facility — the  ocean  the 
obstacle — to  commerce.  All  the  powers  that  have  land  for  distant  communi- 
cations must  now  betake  themselves  to  the  steam  car.  Why  contend  with  ships 
for  the  dominion  of  the  sea,  when  both  the  ships  and  the  sea  are  to  be  super- 
seded? Take  the  case  of  Eussia.  She  has  been  one  hundi-ed  and  fifty  years 
building  up  a  navy — to  become  useless  the  first  day  it  is  wanted.  Not  onlj- 
useless^  but  an  encumbrance  and  a  burden,  requiring  impregnable  posts,  and 
vast  armies,  and  murderous  battles  to  protect  and  save  it — save  it  from  going  to 
swell  the  enemy's  fleet,  and  be  turned  against  its  builders.  Why  build  any 
more  ships  when  there  is  the  land  to  carry  commerce,  without  protection,  to 
every  part  of  Europe,  and  to  America  by  Behring's  Straits,  rendering  fleets 
inoperative  and  harmless  ?  But  T  confine  myself  to  our  own  commerce  and 
our  own  land.  There  is  the  road  to  India,  pointing  west,  half  the  way  upon 
our  own  land,  and  the  rest  upon  a  peaceable  sea  washing  our  shores,  but 
separated  from  Europe  by  the  Avhole  diameter  of  the  earth.     Can  we  not  cease 


ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE   GUEAT    CITY.  9H 

wrangling  over  an  odious  subject  of  domestic  contention,  and  go  to  work  upon 
the  road  wliicli  is  to  exalt  us  to  the  highest  rank  among  natiouR,  and  make  U8 
mistress  of  the  richest  gom  in  the  diadem  of  commerce?  Can  we  not  cease 
contention,  and  seize  the  supremo  prize  which  is  glittering  before  us?  Make 
the  road;  and,  in  its  making,  make  our  America  the  thoroughfare  of  Orient 
commerce — throw  back  the  Capo  and  the  Horn  routes  to  wiiat  Tyre  became 
when  Alexandria  was  founded,  and  what  Alexandria  became  when  the  Capo  of 
rjood  Hope  was  doubled,  making  Europe  submissive  and  tributary  to  us  for  a 
transit  upon  this  route,  and  dispensing  us  from  the  maintenance  of  the  fleelx 
which  the  ocean  commerce  demands  for  its  protection." 

The  railway  is  built,  and  what  in  Benton's  day  was  an  extended  wildernohw 
of  countr}',  from  the  ^tississippi  river  to  the  Pacific  ocean,  is  now  Stales  and 
populous  Territories,  with  rapidly  growing  cities,  rich  in  wealth.  Yet  the 
road  is  not  the  wonderful  thoroughfare  for  the  commerce  of  distant  nations 
that  earlier  enterprise  anticipated.  Nor  will  it  ever  bo.  Kvcry  foot  of  railway 
built  the  more  and  more  confirms  the  continental  destiny  of  the  American 
people;  and  by  the  busine?is  of  this  road  being  absorbed  b}'  the  local  interests 
of  tiio  people  at  each  end  and  along  its  line,  and  the  failure  to  revolutionize 
the  commerce  of  the  world,  the  spirit  of  adventure  has  gone  again  to  the 
ocean,  ami  seeks  new  channels  through  the  isthmuses  of  Suez  and  Darien.  By 
tlieso  highways  the  commerce  of  the  world  is  again  sought  to  be  controlled. 
In  this  contest  America  again  has  the  advant.-ige,  in  climate,  ocean  and  distance, 
as  the  following  testimonj'  of  Mr.  Nourse,  of  the  United  States  nav}-,  given  in 
his  pamphlet  on  the  Maritime  Canal  of  Suez,  will  assure:  "for  while  Suez  is 
the  center  of  the  old  continent,  Darich  is  the  center  of  the  great  ocean  —  iht* 
Atlantic-Pacific  of  the  water  as  well  as  of  the  land  of  our  globe.  For  this 
fact  is  to  bo  remembered — 

<<Krom  the  CJuli"  of  Mexico  all  the  great  commercial  markets  of  the  worhl 
are  down  hill.  A  vessel  bound  from  that  Gulf  to  Europe  places  herself  in  tin- 
current  of  the  (.lulf  Stream  and  drifts  along  with  it  at  the  rate,  for  part  of  thf 
way,  of  eighty  or  a  hundred  miles  a  day.  If  her  destination  bo  Rio  or  India, 
or  California,  her  bourse  is  the  same  as  far  north  as  the  island  of  Bermuda. 

'•And  when  there  shall  bo  established  a  commercial  thoroughfare  across  the 
Isthmus,  the  trade  winds  of  the  Pacific  will  place  China,  India,  New  Holland, 
and  all  the  islands  of  that  ocean,  down  hill  also  from  this  sea  of  ours.  In  thai 
case  Europe  must  pas:i  by  our  very  doors  oj»  the  great  highway  to  the  markets 
both  of  the  East  and  (he  West  Indies.  This  beautiful  Mesopotamian  sea  is  in 
a  position  to  occupy  the  fjomniit  level  of  i.avigut-Loii,  :iud  to  become  the  groat 
commercial  receptacle  of  the  woVld.  Our  rivers  run  into  it,  and  float  down 
with  their  currents  the  surplus  articles  of  merchandise  that  are  produced  upon 
their  banks.  Arrived  with  them  upon  the  bosom  of  this  grand  marine  Irasin, 
there  are  the  currents  of  the  sea  and  the  winds  of  heaven,  so  arranged  by  nature 
that  they  drift  it  and  waft  it  down  hill  and  down  stream  to  the  great  markeU 
places  of  the  world." 


94  ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE    GREAT    CITY. 


THE    ISTHMUS    OF    SUEZ    COMPARED    WITH    THAT    OF   DARIEN. 

Before  taking  up  our  journey,  then,  to  Suez,  let  us  look  for  a  moment  at  the 
two  isthmuses,  side  by  side.  "Whoever  casts  the  eye  on  a  map  of  the  great 
continents  will  hardly  fail  to  mark  some  striking  peculiarities  common  to  both. 
One  of  these  is  the  peninsular  form  of  each,  and  its  tending  southward,  either 
in  a  mass,  as  Africa  and  South  America,  or  in  broken  peninsulas,  as  Southern 
Asia  and  Europe.  A  second  peculiarity  is  the  existence  of  island  groups  on  the 
i'ight  hand  of  the  southern  limits  of  each  continent;  as  the  West  Indies  and  the 
Falkland  group,  southeast  of  America  and  Australasia,  southeast  of  the  various 
peninsulas  into  which  Asia  is  broken.  A  third  and  eqaallj"  noticeable  common 
mark  appeal's  in  that  narrow  neck  of  land  which,  in  each  continent,  joins  the 
land  masses  and  separates  great  seas  —  the  two  isthmuses  which  we  are  con- 
sidering. In  the  Eastern  hemis2>here,  the  land  mass  of  Asia  and  Europe  is  thus 
joined  to  Africa  by  ii  neck  of  less  than  a  hundred  miles  in  extent.  In  the  West, 
the  great  American  Isthmus  —  of  about  fourteen  hundred  miles  in  its  full  extent 
from  Tehauntepec  to  the  Atrato  river  —  at  one  point  narrows  itself  to  even  a 
less  breadth  than  Suez.  In  the  countrj'  of  Dai'ien  proper  it  is  scarcely  more 
than  thirt}'  miles  wide.  And  this  further  point  of  interest  may  be  again  noted 
on  the  world-map,  that  the  Isthmus  of  Suez  is  but  the  center  of  the  old  conti- 
nently, Asia,  Europe,  and  Africa,  while  the  American  Isthmus  is  the  center  of 
oceans  as  well  as  of  countries.  The  commercial  value  of  this  will  be  seen  at  a 
glance,  and  it  belongs  to  the  Isthmus  of  Darien. 

The  chief  practical  point  of  difference,  in  considering  the  American  Isthmus 
and  the  African,  with  the  view  of  opening  up  communication  across  each,  is 
their  opposite  geological  formation.  Suez  is  an  arid,  sandy,  longitudinal  depres- 
sion, of  which  more  than  one-half  is  on  a  level  with  or  below  the  Eed  Sea  and 
the  Mediterranean.  The  American  Isthmus  strikingly  contrasts  itself,  in  its 
being  chiefly  a  ridge  of  the  Great  Cordilleras.  Its  counter-slope  toward  the 
Pacific  is  not  in  most  places  found  to  be  extended.  To  cross  the  Isthmus  of 
Suez  is  to  encounter  its  drift  sands,  but  scarcely  an  elevation  whose  mean 
height  is  above  fiftj^  feet.  To  cross  Central  America  is  to  encounter,  in  Hon- 
duras, elevations  of  at  least  two  thousand  nine  hundred  feet;  or,  in  Panama, 
the  line  of  the  lowest  level  as  yet  found,  with  any  certaint}^,  elevations  from 
four  hundred  and  fifty  to  two  hundred  and  seventy  feet.  The  summit  ridge, 
on  the  Panama  railroad,  is  two  hundred  and  eighty-seven  feet  above  the  mean 
tide-level  of  the  Atlantic. 

The  contrast  between  the  two  isthmuses  is  as  marked  from  a  historic  point 
of  view.  Suez  has  witnessed  the  tramp  of  many  armies,  and  the  noise  of  busy 
trade  around  cities  now  wholly  lost  beneath  the  sands.  The  narrow  neck  of 
Darien  has  scarcely  a  historic  record.  M.  de  Lesseps,  the  engineer  of  the  Suez 
canal,  remarks  :  '<  We  cannot  approach  history  Avithout  touching  upon  Suez  ; 
I  he  Bible  gives  its  early  record;  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob,  and  the  patriarchs, 
crossed  it ;  Moses  was  rescued  from  a  branch  of  the  Nile  running  through  it! 
Afterward  the  tliird  station  of  his  rescued'pooplo  was  Ethan,  which  still  keepa 


ST.    LOUIS,    Till':   FUTURE   GREAT    CITY.  95 

ila  name.  '  Piluihiroth/  one  of  their  encampments,  meaning  in  noln-cw  th« 
'  Bay  of  Jleods,'  has  its  name  preserved  by  the  Arabs  in  the  track  near  Lake 
Timsah.  Tradition  points  to  the  same  locality  as  a  resting-place  for  the  IIolv- 
Tstmily  when  fleeing  from  Herod.  The  Persians  fought  upon  the  plains  around 
Pelusium,  7iear  the  modern  Port  Said.  Alexander's  troops  thronged  the  isth- 
mus;  C'josar  disembarked  on  this  coast;  Pompoy  was  there  assassinated." 

Alongside  of  such  a  record  the  American  Isthmus  has,  as  yet,  but  little  to 
•how;  but  little  of  any  record  of  the  races  within  it  before  the  Spanish  occu- 
jiaiic}-,  and  but  little  even  since  that  date  except  the  heroic  cros.sing  of  Balboa 
ihe  murderous  visits  of  the  Buccaneers,  and  the  struggle  for  colonization  by 
«ueh  noble  men  as  Paterson  and  Campbell.  Yet  may  not  this  isthmus,  when 
ihe  shall  have  become  the  highway  of  nations,  more  than  compensate  for  the 
l)u.st  by  her  greater  instrumentality  in  promoting  peaceful  intercourse,  in  civil- 
izing and  christianizing  her  neighboring  districts  and  the  P^ast  ?  There  seems 
Hurely  a  common  point  as  regards  both  isthmuses,  vitally  affecting  the  future 
of  each  hemisphere,  centering  in  the  opening  up  of  world-intercourse  across 
each.  There  seems  also  some  natural  indications  that  each  will  permit  such 
opening.     Their  very  narrowness  suggests  it. 

Certainly  the  great  interests  of  civilization  loudly  call  for  such  open  and  easy 
intercourse.  For  to  say  that  these  narrow  necks ^/om  two  land  masses  is  to  use 
language  commonly  held  and  expressive  of  a  physical  or  geological  fact.  But, 
oommercially,  the  opposite  is  true.  They  separate  men.  They  are  the  bar  to 
the  world's  trade,  and  to  the  fuller  extending  of  the  accompanying  blessings  of 
(livilization. 

The  Isthmus  of  Darion,  now  crossed  by  the  Panama  railroad,  pi'oves,  In-  her 
liusy  throng  from  the  two  sides  of  the  great  Pacific  and  from  distant  New 
Zealand  and  Australia,  what  she  will  be,  and  what  more  succcssfivU}- s4ie  can  do 
!'or  humanity,  when  a  yet  readier  water  passage  shall  be  opened. 

The  Isthmus  of  Suez,  until  fully  opened  for  heavy  frei-ghting,  Avill  continue  to 
make  necessary  the  hundred-day  voyage  around  the  stormy  capo.  For,  how- 
ever readily  the  traveler  bears  the  heavy  expense  of  a  shorter  overland  route 
!»}•  the  railroad  from  Alexandria  to  the  Ped  Sea,  the  freights  of  commerce  boar 
neither  this  nor  the  yet  greater  disadvantages  of  transhipments.  The  bulk  of 
i»-ado  still  follows  the  route  discovered  nearh-  four  centuries  ago.  It  awaits  the 
oompletion  in  full  of  the  maritime  canat  which  shall  in  fact  join  Asia  to  Africa 
and  to  Europe.     Let  us  compare  two  distance-saving  tables  on  this  point. 


96 


ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE    GREAT    CITY. 


DiSTANCE-SAVINa   TABLES,    OR  COMPAIUSON   OP  EOUTES,  (A)  BY  SuEZ  CaNAL  WITH 

Route  by    Cabe    of   Good   Hobe,    (B)   by  Darien  Canal  with  Icoute  bt 
Cape  Horn. 

The  distances  are  in  most  cases  taken  either  from  a  table  prepared  by  tb« 
Bureau  of  Navigation,  Navy  Department ;  or  from  BerghauB'  Chart,  or  th» 
tables  of  the  Pacific  Mail  Steamship  Company. 

A. — Table  of  the  Saving  in  Distances  for  Trade  passing  through  the  Suez  Cana 
to  Bombay,  a  central  point  in  the  Indian  Ocean. 


PORTS. 

II 

:5^ 

CO 

Cnllinff  the  dis- 
tance from  Liv- 
erpool to  Bom- 
bay 100  miles. 

4 

«'1 

6,550 
5,950 
5,900 
5,950 
5,200 
5,350 
5,800 
5,C50 
5,960 
6,100 
6,200 
6,450 

3,700 
3,100 
S.050 
3,100 
2,224 
2,500 
2,824 
2,374 
2,340 
1,800 
3.761 
3,724 

2,850 
2,850 
2,850 
2,850 
2,976 
2,850 
2,976 
3,276 
3,620 
4,300 
2,439 
2,720 

111 

100 

100 

100 

88 

90 

98 

95 

100 

103 

104 

109 

52 

52 

Amsterdam 

Liverpool 

London 

Cadiz 

Lisbon 

4S 

Marseilles 

40 

Trieste 

39i 

Constantinople 

30a 

63^ 
03 

(a)  The  saving  between  London  and  the  ports  on  the  east  coast  of  Asia  may 
be  stated  at  about  4,800  miles ;  the  saving  from  London  to  Melbourne,  Aus- 
tralia, at  about  3,000  miles. 

(6)  Lesseps,  in  bis  original  memoir  (1855),  estimates  the  saving  between  th» 
East  and  West  to  be  an  average  of  3,000  leagues. 

(c)  The  Prench  engineers,  in  1801,  estimated  that  the  Suez  Canal  Avould  sav. 
one-third  of  the  distance  and  one-fifth  of  the  time  in  navigating  from  Franc* 
to  India. 

(d)  The  saving  between  England  and  India  may  be  stated  at  49  per  cent,  j 
between  France,  Southern  Russia,  Italy,  Greece,  and  Turkey,  at  52  per  cent. 


ST.    LOUIS,    TUB   FUTURE    GREAT   CITV. 


97 


Table   showing    the   Saving   in  Distance  for   Trade  passing   through   the 
Darien  Canal. 


PORTS. 


J      S» 


By  Cape    By  Darien  | 
Hum.  Canal,    j 


Xew  York  ttj  Valparaiso 

Liverpool  to  Vaipiiraiso 

New  York  to  Callao 

Liverpool  to  (fullno 

New  York  to  Honolulu 

Liverpool  to  Honolulu 

New  York  to  San  Francisco 

Liverpool  to  San  Francisco 

Now  York  to  .Jeddo 

Now  York  to  Shanghai 

New  York  to  lloni^  Kong 

New  York  to  Hong  Kong  by  Cape  of  Good  Hope. 

New  York  to  Meli^ourne 

Liverpool  to  Moihourne.., 

New  York  to  Sydne\- 

Liverpool  to  Sydney' 

Havre  to  San  Francisco 


8.720 

4.800 

8,02-> 

9,100 

7,500 

1,)M)0 

10,OjO 

3.5.50 

0,470 

10.400 

(•.,200 

4,200 

i:!.o.]0 

6.850 

6,280 

i:5,7.HO 

9,.500 

4,2HO 

U.OIO 

5..310 

8,:ioo 

i:5,t;r,.-, 

7,'Jf.O 

5,7a5 

]t;,700 

10,200 

0,-500 

]  4.. 500 

11,100 

:].40O 

17,IJ0 

11,850 

5,.570 

11.01.-. 

TJ.7J0 

10,400 

2,320 

l:},:'..-.0 

12,000 

750 

12.S70 

9,950 

2,920 

12.s.-)0 

12.400 

450 

13,040 

7,900 

5,740 

Those  estimates,  which  are  best  understood  by  having  the  eye  either  on  a 
i^Iobe,  or  upon  the  world,  on  Mcrcator'a  projection,  will  suffice  at  present  as 
points  of  comparison  in  proof  of  the  interest  which  for  so  many  years  has  held 
many  of  the  ablest  minds  to  the  problem  of  canalizing  both  isthmuses.  Among 
these  the  late  Henry  AYhoaton,  United  States  Minister  to  the  Court  of  Berlin 
in  1845,  deserves  high  place.  In  the  midst  of  his  official  duties  he  found  time 
for  the  study  of  the  subject  in  its  widest  range,  and  addressed  an  elaborate 
dispatch  to  our  Secretary  of  State,  discussing  with  marked  ability  the  canalizing 
of  each  of  the  isthmuso:^,  and  developing  the  results  to  be  expected  therefrom. 
This  was  before  the  foundation  of  the  Pacific  States  had  been  laid.  (See 
Lawrence's  foot-notes,  Wheaton's  International  Law,  and  Ex.  Doc.  29th  Con- 
gress, 21st  session.) 

The  following  additional  tables,  kindly  furnished  by  Mr.  F.  A.  Walker,  Chief 
of  the  Statistical  Bureau,  United  States  Treasury  Department,  will  bo  found  in 
place  hero. 

(A  corresponding  table  made  by  the  friends  of  the  Suez  Canal  would  claim, 
in  brief,  an  annual  tonnage  of  6,000,000,  from  almost  the  outset  of  the  opening 
of  navigation,  with  a  steady  increase.) 


98  ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE    GREAT    CITY. 


Table  showing  the  Trade  of  England  that  would  pass  through  the  Darien  Canal 
if  710 w  finished,  taken  from  the  Official  Returns  for  the  year  1SG7. 

CoHiitrus  Traded  with.  Exports  and  Imports.     Tonnage. 

Half  of  Mexico $3,014,003  22,401 

Half  of  C.'iiLral  Ainorica 2,<i42,(;.;0  7,()52 

Half  of  Kcw  Granada ■ S.til.j.UDS  11,019 

Chili          S5,004.0'.)0  220,771 

IVru.*" -'^-'I^'M"?  20'.).401 

Ecuador 7(.).715  ■^          2,725 

Ci.ina 85,975,000  ]07,288 

jjiva •— •  0,812,7(35  ;J0.70;3 


jMiitfaport 


17,813,505  123.43;-i 


Australia  and  New  Zealand..... 07,475,7^0  204,815 

Wands  of  the  Pacific 2;i0.7;;0  2,702 

California 14,239,070  127,080 

$208,531,115  1,219,702 

Value  of  ships,  $50  per  Ion 00,988,100 

Total  value $329,519,215 

Table  shoioing  the  Trade  of  France  that  would  pass  through  the  Darien  Canal 
if  71010  finished,  taken  fro7ii  the  Official  Returns  for  the  year  ISGo. 

Countries  Traded  with.  Exports  and  Imports.      To),naff4. 

Half  of  Mexico $  7,041,470  34,672 

Half  of  Central  America 2,0]lM(;2  10,721 

Half  of  New  Granada 1.905,2r.O  6,703 

Chili ^ 10,994,595  25,203 

Peru 11,870,240  49,201 

Ecuador 550,923  2,283 

China 13,018,440  18,803 

.lava 800,227  3,749 

Siiii-apore 

Australia ^ 908,933  5,217 

Islands  of  the  Pacific 

California 1,607,929  8,587 

Value  of  cargoes $52,570,185  165,259 

Value  of  ships,  at  $50  per  ton 8,202,950 

Total  value $60,839,135 

Table   showing   the    Trade   of  the    United   States  that  would  pass  through  the 

Darien  Canal. 

Coimtnes  Traded  with.  Imports  and  Exports.     Tonnage. 

1860.  ISGS. 

Dutch  East  Indies $  2,080,031  13,283 

British  Australia  and  New  Zcaliuid 809,037  44.024 

British  East  Indies 9,432.214  107,977 

Half  of  Mexico 5,999.907  72.930 

Half  of  Central  America 2,109,778  41,520 

Chili 8.272,407  49,078 

Peru 3,059,755  78,429 

Kandwich  Islands 2.083,484  50,003 

Cliina 25,584,853  107,884 

Half  of  New  Granada 5,186,025  30^^,220 

Vnluc  of  cargoes $59,617,011  880,548 

Value  of  ships,  at  $50  jht  ton 44.027,400 

Total  value  of  ships  and  cargoes $iO;;.045.0U 


ST.    LOUIS,    TUE   FUTUllE    GUEAT    CITY.  99 

The  foregoing  tableH  show  what  would  probably  bo  tho  amount  and  direction 
of  Iho  coiniuerco  passing  through  tiie  Darien  Canal  when  tirst  completed,  but 
in  this  there  would  be  an  immediate  and  rapidly  increasing  change  inuring  lo 
the  benefit  of  the  United  States.  At  present  the  balance  of  trade  is  so  decidedly 
iigainst  Europe  and  America,  and  in  favor  of  tlio  East  Irjdies  and  China,  thai 
vessels  sailing  from  the  ports  of  the  former  are  never  half  laden,  but  bring 
full  cargoes  on  their  return  passages  of  the  products  of  the  Kast.  This  condi- 
tion  of  the  trade  is  not  owing  to  a  want  of  market  in  Eastern  and  Southern 
Asia  for  the  products  of  tho  United  States,  but  to  tho  present  great  cost  of 
getting  those  products  to  that  market,  and  the  nearer  but  greatly  less  demand 
we  find  for  them  in  Europe.  A  canal  through  the  Isthmus  of  Darien  or 
Tohuantepec  would  so  materially  shorten  tho  distance  and  lesson  the  ex))enso 
of  the  transit  to  Asia  and  Australia  that,  in  less  than  three  years,  the  bread- 
stuffs  and  other  products  sent  from  our  ports  to  these  countries  would  not  only 
change  the  balance  of  trade  in  our  favor,  but  would  also  rebuild  tho  comnuTcial 
niarinc  which  tho  late  war  so  completely  destroyed;  and  tho  magnificent 
harbors  of  tho  West  India  islands  and  our  Gulf  coast,  of  which  Tampa  Bay, 
Appalachicola,  Pensacola,  ^^obile,  New  Orleans  and  Galveston  are  the  principal 
belonging  to  us,  would,  as  the  receptacles  for  shipment  of  the  vast  proiiucts  of 
the  Southern  States  and  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi,  soon  make  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico  tho  grandest  center  of  commercial  activity  that  the  world  has  ever 
witnessed. 

This  brief  comparison  of  tho  isthmuses  will  at  present  suflice.  Tho  tables 
have  been  brought  side  by  side,  with  tho  design  of  enlisting  deeiier  interest  in 
the  proposed  survey  for  our  own  Darien  Canal.  Its  importance  can  scarcely 
bo  over-estimated  ;  and  tho  interest  in  it,  and  effort  to  be  enlisted  for  its  con- 
struction, may  be  quickened  by  such  comparisons  as  we  are  now  making. 

For  it  is  to  bo  kept  steadil}'  before  tho  eye,  that  tho  termini  of  the  two  great 
transit  routes,  in  the  two  hemispheres,  are  the  radiant  points  for  tho  great  trunk 
linos  of  the  world's  commerce,  viz:  (1)  From  tho  Persian  Gulf,  or  Suez,  cast 
to  Bombay,  Calcutta  and  Australia,  and  from  Port  Said  west  to  all  parts  of 
Kurope,  North  and  South  America ;  and  (2)  from  Darien  oast  to  Europe,  and 
west  to  Asia,  South  American  west  coast,  and  Australia. 

We  now  turn  from  these  comparisons  of  tho  American  route,  as  yet  unsur 
vc^-ed,  but  challenging  the  genius  of  exploration  and  of  engineering,  to  the 
record  of  the  present  finished  route  in  tho  East ;  again  saying,  "  May  the  Sue: 
Canal  secure  our  own." 

That  the  English  are  beginning  to  comprehend  the  state  of  the  case,  may  1" 
inferred  from  an  article  on  the  Suez  Canal  in  a  recent  number  of  Once  a  WetL, 
from  which  wo  extract  the  following  passages  : 

"  That  tho  Suez  Canal  will  bring  about  a  revolution  in  the  commereial  world 
is  certain  ;  tho  extent  of  tho  revolution  must  bo  left  to  future  times  to  decide. 

"  With  tho  new  direct  passage  to  the  East,  is  there  not  every  probability  of 
tho  ports  of  North  Africa  and  of  South  Europe  becoming  the  great  commercial 
emporiums  of  the  future?  Tho  way  is  now  clour  from  North  America  lo  Ilin- 
dostan   and  with  the  exception  of  tho  detour  made  by  the  Ked  Sea,  the  course 


100  ST.   LOUIS, 

ig  a  direct  on  a.  Tho  Mediterranean  lies  in  the  line  between  East  and  West,  and 
may  be  said  to  connect  both.  What  an  enviable  position  !  On  tho  one  hand 
America,  flourishing,  young,  and  active;  on  the  other  India,  surpassingly 
wealthy,  and  itself  the  connecting  link  Avhose  shores,  abounding  with  good 
ports,  are  almost  everywhere  the  fringes  of  good  and  largely-yielding  soil. 
Now  is  the  time  for  Trieste  and  Marseilles  to  bestir  themselves.  The  golden 
opportunity  is  offered,  and  the  earliest  bidder  will  obtain  tho  greatest  bargains. 
Who  knows  where  will  be  the  London,  the  pre-eminent  commercial  city  of 
future  times  ?  It  would  be  odd,  indeed,  if,  contrary  to  all  modern  anticipa- 
tions, it  should  not  be  in  North  America,  but  in  one  of  the  oldest  districts  of 
the  Old  World.  The  Old  World  is  very  much  larger  than  the  New,  is  as  rich, 
or  richer,  in  minerals,  and  contains  a  greater  proportion  of  I'ichly-productive 
soil.  After  consideration,  then,  it  would  not  bo  surprising  if  the  commercial 
supremacy  which  successively  left  Tyre,  Rome,  and  Venice,  should  desert  Lon- 
don—  not  for  New  York,  but  for  some  place  on  the  ancient  coast  of  the 
Mediterranean.  Should  this  really  happen  (of  course,  it  is  at  present  a  mere 
speculation,  and  a'few  years  will  decide  the  probabilit}^  or  improbability  of  its 
ultimate  occurrence),  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  Suez  Canal  will  have  been 
the  great,  if  not  the  sole,  cause  of  the  regeneration  of  the  world  of  the  ancients. 
^^Let  England  not  be  blind  to  tho  probable  inftaences  of  the  Suez  Canal.  It 
behooves  her  particularly,  of  all  the  nations  of  the  world,  to  be  on  the  alert, 
even  for  events  which  it  may  take  centuries  to  culminate,  for  she  has  the 
greatest  intoi'osts  at  stake.  She  is  now  on  the  top  of  the  pinnacle  of  glory, 
supported  by  the  richest  possessions,  the  most  floui-ishing  colonies,  and  tho 
greatest  commerce  of  tho  world. 

"  The  greatness  of  England  may  bo  said  to  have  had  its  foundation  in  the 
discovery  of  the  Cape  route  to  India.  This  event  developed  the  energies  of 
the  nations  of  Western  Europe,  and  its  effects  were  almost  immediately  felt  in 
tho  rapid  rise  of  Spain,  then  of  Portugal,  next  of  Holland,  and  lastly  of 
England:  They  are  all  nations 'possessing  extensive  coasts  open  to  the  Atlantic, 
and  therefore  received  the  benefits  of  the  newly-found  wsij  to  the  large 
world.  Tho  discovery  converted  tho  Mediterranean  into  a  comparatively^  small 
expanse  of  water,  shut  out  of  the  wider  world ;  and,  ever  since,  tho  countries 
on  its  shores  have  gradually  lessened  in  importance  ;  England  has  become  rich, 
while  Eastern  Spain,  and  Italy,  and  Greece  have  become  poor — because,  by  the 
Cape  route,  she  is  nearer  to  China  and  the  East  ladies.  The  fact  stands  on 
adamant.  The  inference  is  as  true.  The  Cape  route  is,  or  will  be  in  a  few 
years,  worthless  for  communication  with  the  East,  tho  way  by  Suez  beinc  the 
nearer  and  the  safer.  Our  Eastern  commerce  must  decline,  as  assuredly  as 
that  of  South  Europe  will  increase.  Such  must  be  tho  case,  even  should  we 
continue  our  hold  on  India;  and  we  cannot  hope  to  preserve  an  ascendency 
over  three  hundred  millioas  of  foreigners  if  we  begin  to  lose  prestige  in  the 
world. 

"Regarding  Eastern  commerce,  a  vigorous  activity  on  the  part  of  the  Medi- 
terranean States  will  be  accompanied  by  a  comparative  decline  on  that  of 
England ;  in  other  words  tho  salvation  of  tho  Mediterranean  will  be  the  ruin 


ST.    LOUIS,    THE  FUTURE   GREAT   CITY.  101 

of  Erii,d:ind.  But,  some  people  will  very  naturally  remark,  wo  sshail  8till  have 
tbo  American  commerce  in  our  hands,  and  the  resources  and  wealth  of  America 
are  worthy  of  comparison  with  those  of  (ho  Eant.  Granted  ;  but  the  retention 
of  half  a  possession  is  no  recompense  for  ihe  loss  of  the  other*  half.  Wo  may, 
nowever,  cull  some  consolalion  from  the  |)hilosop!»ie  reflection  that  half  a  i^ood 
thing  is  better  than  none  at  all  ;  and  in  that  light  we  should  be  thankful  for  our 
own  fortune.  America  is  now  our  last  resource,  and  trill  be  the  fri<  nd  to  save  vs 
from  utter  bankruptcy  and  ruin. 

"  W  the  Suez  Canal  had  been  completed  a  century  or  more  ago,  before  the 
resources  of  the  New  World  had  been  known  and  appreciated,  there  is  much 
ground  of  probability  in  the  supposition  that  our  country  would  have  sunk  into 
respectable  insignificance,  and  that  the  progress  of  America  iu  civilization  and 
prosperity  would  have  been  far  less  rapid  than  it  has  been  under  existing  cir- 
•  umstances.  So  widely  diiferent  must  have  been  the  course  of  events,  and  so 
gigantic  are  the  interests  concerned,  that  the  subject  fills  the  mind  with  amaze- 
ment. Whole  countries,  nay,  continents,  would  have  l)eon  materially  affected, 
and  not  merely  a  Britisli  colon}-  at  the  Capo  of  (Jood  Hope,  as  man}-  persons 
erroneously  suppose.  Wo  have,  indeed,  as  Englishmen,  much  cause  for  con- 
gratulation upon  the  long  delay  in  removing  the  barrier  between  European  and 
Asiatic  seas,  until  the  present  hour,  when  the  productions  of  Ainerica  have 
boon  so  generally  and  so  abundantly  developed.  We  diny  to  America  as  to  the 
last  hope  of  a  siiiking  man. 

"Those  are  gloomy  forebodings  for  the  future  of  our  countiy.  They  will 
undoubtedly  prove  true  in  the  end,  unless  England  8h:;kes  oil"  the  foolish  apathy 
with  reganl  to  foreign  affairs  which  seems  to  have  talcen  posso-<sion  of  kcr 
during  these  last  three  or  four  years.  She  must  not  be  "content  to  confine  her 
whole  attention  to  her  own  island  home,  if  she  has  the  ambition  still  to  be  a 
power  in  the  world.  She  must  not  selfishly  withdraw  her  support  from  her 
young  colonies,  who  noed  her  assistance  now,  but  who  will  be  her  strong 
defenders  or  aiders  in  the  future.  Sho  must  not  allow  France  or  any  other 
power  again  to  undertake  the  grandest  enterprise  of  the  day.  On  tho  con- 
trary, she  must  be  ever  bold  and  fearless — active  and  energetic  in  every  quarter 
of  the  globe — resentful  of  every  injury,  and  foremost  in  every  great  <\-ork. 
She  has  been  overreached  l»y  the  latest  French  movement.  Let  lier  apply  a 
lesson  from  it,  and  avert  the  dangers  now  threatening  lier,  b}*  excavating  a 
channel  across  tho  Isthmus  of  Panama.  Let  her  begin  this  great  work  imme- 
diately— not  a  moment  should  be  lost — and  tho  rich  Eastern  and  Southeastern 
lands  of  Asia  will  be  within  easy  distance  of  her  b}-  a  new  route  in  a  direct 
line  across  tho  united  Atlantic  and  Pacific  oceans. 

"  By  this  means  only  is  the  speedy  destruction  of  our  commercial  interests 
and  of  our  existence  as  a  great  independent  nation  to  be  prever)ted.  The 
Panama  Canal  is  the  natural  sequence  of  tho  successful  piercing  of  the  Isthmus 
oi"  Suez.  Nay,  more — it  is  al'solutely  necessar}'  for  tho  safety  of  England. 
Apart  from  its  necessity  to  tiiis  country  particularly,  it  will  be  extremely 
beneficial  to  the  whole  world  in  general,  by  reason  of  its  inspiring  u  fresh 
enterpri-ijii^  spirit  of  energy  in  men,  and  engendering  emulations  and  instincte 


102  ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE   GREAT    CITY. 

of  progressive  activity  in  nations.  There  is  every  reason,  every  necessity  in 
the  world,  for  the  Avork  to  be  commenced,  and  that  quiclily.  The  present  is 
the  golden  opportunity— procrastination  may  snatch  it  away." 

Then  is  it  not  manifest  from  this  general  consideration  of  tlie  subject  that 
we,  too,  of  the  New  World  have  a  3Iediterranean  Sea  in  our  Gulf  of  Mexico 
and  Carribean  Sea  ?  And  in  the  future  growth  and  organization  of  the  world's 
commerce,  can  we  not  reasonably  expect  that  thousands  of  ships  from  the 
Atlantic  and  Pacific — from  the  combined  fleets  of  the  nations  of  the  earth  — 
will  associate  in  rendezvous  in  that  world's  commercial  place  which  those  two 
waters  are  destined  to  afford?  Every  consideration  in  our  geography  and 
resources,  as  well  as  the  rapid  tendency  to  a  complete  organization  of  the 
world's  commerce,  point  to  this  one  great  fact.  The  Mediterranean  of  the  Now 
World  is  just  as  surely  to  supersede,  in  commercial  importance,  the  Mediter- 
ranean of  the  Old  World,  as  does  the  civilization  of  the  New  World  supersede 
the  civilization  of  the  Old.  Our  Mediterranean  will  yet  have  its  Suez  Canal. 
It  has  its  new  Eome,  its  Constantinople,  its  Genoa  and  its  Yenice,  its  Smyrna 
and  Palermo.  In  short,  to  the  Mediterranean  of  the  Old  World  belongs 
scarcely  anything  of  nature  or  civilization  that  does  not  belong  to  the  Mediter- 
ranean of  the  New  World.  Whether  in  oceans  East  and  West,  or  whether  in 
continents  North  and  South;  or  whether  in  islands  and  cities,  in  climates  and 
peoples,  we  may  turn  to  the  long  line  of  historic  scenes  which  have  been 
enacted  upon  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  of  the  Old  World  through 
thousands  of  years  of  man's  history,  growth,  and  the  rise  and  fall  of  nations, 
the  commercial  greatness,  and  the  diffusion  of  the  arts  and  sciences — and  there 
seems  to  be  reserved  in  the  future,  and  to  be  enacted  upon  the  shores  of  the 
Mediterranean  of  the  New  World,  still  mightier  deeds  in  commerce,  in  art,  in 
Peace!  Why  may  we  not  anticipate  a  superior  and  more  advanced  rehearsal 
of  history  ?     Even  now  it  is  being  enacted,  and  must  go  on. 

Having  pointed  out  the  routes  over  which  the  controlling  commerce  of  the 
world  has  passed  for  nearly  three  thousand  years,  and  c&nsidered  the  probable 
influence  which  the  use  of  the  Suez  and  Darien  canals  will  exert  in  the  control 
and  direction  of  the  future  commerce  of  the  distant  nations  and  peoples  of  the 
earth,  and  considered  our  advantage  upon  the  ocean,  and  the  certainty  of  the 
world's  commerce  seeking  our  markets  through  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  from 
thftnce  to  the  great  cities  in  the  central  plain,  where  it  will  be  exchanged, 
distributed,  and  consumed,  we  return  to  the  railway  system,  and  consider  the 
special  industrial  mission  of  our  people.  We  have  already  said  that  the  railway 
systems,  in  their  more  mature  development,  will  be  dominant  over  the  water 
systems  in  affording  commercial  facilities,  and  will,  in  the  future,  control  the 
industry  of  the  world,  and  therefore  the  industrial  mission  of  all  considerable 
peoples  who  build  for  themselves  these  most  useful  agencies  that  the  arts  have 
produced. 

America  is  destined  to  be  the  great  railway  contine:it  of  the  world 
and  the  essential  industrial  mission  of  the  American  people  will  conform  to 
their  great  railway  system.  Hence  their  mission  must  be  essentially  con- 
tinental ;  and  now  that  the  continent,  from  East  to  West,  has  been   spanned 


ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE   GREAT    CITY.  103 

by  a  great  trunk  lino,  and  an  entire  lino  of  battle  formed  from  ocean  lo  oceaji 
in  the  civil  conquest  of  the  continent,  a  now  movement  is  alreadj'  begun  which 
is  destined  to  extend  our  railway  system  to  the  Gulf,  west  of  the  Mississippi 
river,  and  into  Mexico,  and  from  thonco  through  Central  to  South  America; 
and  thus  will  be  indicated  the  industrial  mission  of  our  people.  They  will  go 
forth,  as  from  the  beginning,  following  the  track  of  the  ancient  civilization 
across  the  continent  in  a  southwesterly  direction,  and  thus  continue  on  in  their 
mission,  carrying  their  arts  and  their  arms  into  Mexico,  and  from  thence  to 
Central  and  South  America  —  ever  marching  in  unity  and  order  with  the  rail- 
ways, as  the  great  vitalizors  of  their  indastry  and  commerce. 

A  glance  at  the  elaborate  and  carefully  prepared  tables  on  the  two  following 
pages  will  show  that  nearly  half  of  all  the  railroads  in  the  world  are  within 
the  boundaries  of  the  United  States  of  America.  The  Anglo-Saxon  race  first 
put  their  mark  on  the  western  continent  at  Plj-mouth  and  Jamestown,  and  now 
they  have  compassed  it  with  bands  of  iron.  Jteference  to  other  tables  will 
show  that  this  vast  work  of  building  more  than  fifty  thousand  miles  of  railway 
has  been  accomplished  within  forty  years. 

In  1830  there  were  twenty-three  miles  of  railroad  built  and  in  actual  opera- 
tion Avithin  tho  boundaries  of  the  United  States.  In  1870  the  completed 
railroads  of  this  great  country  have  reached  nearly  fift3--one  thousand  miles. 
Tho  present  annual  increase  of  railroads  in  the  United  States  is  about  five 
thousand  miles,  nor  is  it  likely  that  this  ratio  of  augmentation  will  decrease 
for  years  to  como.  "Wherever  a  railroad  will  add  the  amount  of  its  cost  to  the 
value  of  tho  country  through  which  it  passes,  it  is  certain  to  be  built.  In  the 
infancy  of  our  railroad  experience  there  woro  thousands  Of  obstacles  and 
difficulties  to  be  overcome :  the  lack  of  capital,  tho  want  of  engineering  skill, 
tho  absence  of  that  expcrimontal  knowledge  which  makes  every  blow  and 
every  dollar  tell  its  whole  value,  were  serious  drawbacks  upon  railroad  buildinkr. 
Warily  and  wearily  the  companies  went  on,  adding  a  few  miles  from  year  t' 
year,  until  their  roads  were  completed.  But  the  same  indomitable  spirit  of 
energy  and  enterprise  which  had  settled  a  wilderness,  felling  forests,  fencing 
fields,  and  fighting  savages,  in  its  onward  course,  was  equal  to  tho  emergency 
of  building  railroads.  And  it  will  soon  happen  that  the  American  Union  will 
be  covered  with  a  grand  network  of  railways,  penetrating  not  only  every 
State,  but  almost  every  count}-  and  township  in  this  vast  territory. 

No  continent  of  the  globe  is  so  well  adapted,  in  its  topographical  charaoti-r. 
for  a  vast  system  of  railways  as  ours ;  and  whereas  we  now  have  50,000  milo- 
in  operation,  the  child  is  born  that  will  see  on  this  continent  well  nigh  150,000 
miles,  diverging  from  tho  center  to  all  parts  of  our  national  domain;  thus 
rendering  the  nation  more  powerful  for  good  in  peace  than  army  and  navy  can 
accomplish. 

The  following  table,  already  referred  to,  is  tho  most  wonderful  exhibit  of 
human  progress  that  the  genius  of  man  has  thus  far  been  able  to  develop.  It 
spreads  out  before  the  understanding  an  art,  world-wide  in  its  use,  and  the 
most  powerful  of  all  man's  works  for  the  promotion  of  a  unity  of  human 
oivilization. 


104 


ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE   GllEAT    CITY. 


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ST.    LOUIS,    TUE   FUTURE    GKEAT    CITY. 


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«■   -  2 


106  ST.    LOUIS,    THE  FUTURE   GREAT   CITY. 

Let  US  turn  now  to  a  final  consideration  of  the  civil  mission  of  our  people, 
for  this,  too,  cannot  be  regarded  otherwise  than  a  great  consideration  in  the 
world's  civilization.  Are  we  to  remain  one  people  —  the  great  republican 
nation  of  the  world  ?  What  civil  mission  through  the  national  life  is  our  people 
yet  to  fulfill?  What  beneficent  influences  are  they  yet  to  extend  upon  the 
nations  and  the  people  of  the  earth  ? 

Iq  the  consideration  of  the  civil  and  industrial  mission  of  our  people,  we 
must  not  forget  that  all  the  future  greatness  and  glory  of  each  depend  as  well 
upon  the  maintenance  of  fundamental  principles  of  civilization  over  this  entire 
continent.  We  must  have  one  race,  one  language,  one  law,  and  one  religion, 
and  the  entire  life  of  our  people  tempered  by  cardinal  principles  of  justice  and 
morality.  Sad  and  trying  experience  has  long  since  taught  mankind  the  abso- 
lute necessity  of  these  essentials.  We  look  over  the  history  of  all  races  of  men 
that  have  lived  in  Western  Asia  and  Europe,  and  we  find  ,that  the  antagonisni 
of  races,  of  religions,  and  of  language  has  been  the  bane  of  all  national  devel- 
opment and  high  civilization.  But  few  of  the  nations  have  escaped  bloody  wars 
produced  by  collisions  between  races,  religions,  laws  and  languages  ;  wars  that 
have  been  destructive  of  the  best  productions  of  civilization.  We  look  further 
East  to  find  an  exception  to  the  general  experience.  In  the  far  East  we  find 
China  spread  over  with  a  single  race,  a  single  law,  a  single  language,  a  single 
religion,  and  a  common  civilization,  all  tempered  with  the  highest  principles  of 
honor  and  morality.  Through  thousands  of  years  have  they  perpetuated 
themselves,  and  this  example  we  find  nowhere  else  on  the  globe.  Turning 
from  the  far  East,  it  is  in  the  far  West  that  we  would  imitate,  on  a  higher  scale, 
that  grand  experience  of  man  in  history.  We  have  every  advantage  to  do  so. 
We  have  a  continent  at  our  command.  Its  topography  and  natural  advantages 
and  resources  are  in  every  way  fitted  for  man's  highest  use  and  civilization. 
We  have  all  the  essential  elements  of  one  race,  diverse  from  every  other,  and 
peculiar  to  the  country.  So,'too,  have  we  of  law,  of  language,  of  religion,  and 
of  civilization.  It  therefore  remains  for  our  people  to  be  faithful  to  the  highest 
use  of  what  they  possess.  The  theory  of  our  government  is  correct.  Let  us 
labor  to  progress  from  the  theory,  Transitional  Eepublicanism,  to  the 
practice,  ORGANIC  LIBERTY. 

With  the  knowledge  of  the  grand  possibilities  which  our  nation  and  people 
can  yet  attain,  let  us  pray  for  a  coming  statesman,  a  law-giver,  who  will  herald 
the  rising  glory  of  the  Republic.  A  man  of  mighty,  wide,  grasping,  reasoning, 
calculating,  poetic  mind,  who,  though  born  in  a  manger,  the  kings  of  the  earth 
will  bow  before  his  simple  grandeur  and  majesty.  A  statesman  too  lofty  in 
his  bearing  to  deceive  his  people,  and  too  pure  in  his  nature  to  usurp  their 
rights  and  bounties ;  a  man  whose  life-example  is  a  source  of  perpetual  admi- 
ration for  all  his  people ;  a  man,  in  short,  who  in  every  way  is  a  statesman 
which  the  necessities  of  the  Republic  demand  to  point  the  way  to  its  future 
greatness  and  honor.  The  birth  of  such  a  man  is  not  impossible.  God  gives 
to  the  necessities  of  men  and  nations,  and  while  we  hope  for  the  future,  let  us 
fully  realize  the  present,  and  vindicate  the  Republic,  its  national  life  and 
character. 


ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE   GREAT    CITY.  107 

Said  Gamut,  the  groat  French  statesman,  when  spr^aking  of  Republics : 
"  One  only  has  been  the  work  of  philosop^ij,  and  that  is  the  United  States." 
The  universal  judgment  of  enlightened  mankind  corroborates  the  truth  of  this 
statement.  When  our  fathers  appealed  to  the  Universal  Judge  of  the  world 
in  vindication  of  the  rights  and  independence  of  the  colonies,  they  opened  a 
way  that  no  man  can  shut  —  a  way  for  the  free  exercise  of  the  inherent  rights 
of  all  mankind,  through  the  rolling  ages  of  the  future.  They  cstablis^hed  a 
government  that  interposed  "no  restraint  but  those  laws  which  are  the  same 
to  all,  and  "no  distinction  but  that  which  a  man's  merit  may  originate." 
They  established  a  union  of  independent  colonies,  which,  yielding  to  an 
irresistible  national  attraction,  sought  a  new  life  in  becoming  a  part  of  the 
great  whole. 

Then  realizing  the  character  of  a  nation  just  born,  we  can  readily  apprehend 
what  good  it  is  destined  to  subserve  in  the  civil  interests  of  mankind,  and  over 
what  lands  its  laws  will  seek  dominion.  Said  the  Uon.  Charles  Sumner,  in 
■peaking  of  the  final  supremacy  of  our  constitution  over  all  of  North 
America:  "The  end  is  certain;  nor  shall  we  wait  long  for  its  mighty  fulfill- 
ment. Its  beginning  is  the  establishment  of  peace  at  home,  through  which 
the  national  unity  shall  become  manifest.  This  is  the  first  step.  The  rest  will 
follow.  In  the  procession  of  events  it  is  now  at  hand,  and  he  is  blind  who 
does  not  discern  it.  From  the  frozen  sea  to  the  tepid  waters  of  the  Mexican 
Gulf,  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  the  whole  vast  continent,  smiling  with 
outstretched  prairies,  where  the  coal-fields  below  vie  with  the  itifinite  corn- 
fields above — teeming  with  iron,  copper,  silver,  and  gold — filling  fast  with  a  free 
people,  to  whom  the  telegraph  and  steam  are  constant  servants  —  breathing 
already  with  schools,  colleges,  and  libraries — interlaced  by  rivers  which  are 
great  highways — studded  with  inland  seas  where  fleets  are  sailing, and  'poured 
round  old  ocean's'  constant  tides,  with  tributary  commerce  and  still  expand- 
ing domain.  Such  will  be  the  groat  Republic,  one  and  indivisible,  with  a 
common  Constitution,  a  common  Liberty,  and  a  common  Glory." 

Said  the  Hon.  William  II.  Seward:  "This  Union  has  not  yet  accomplished 
what  good  for  mankind  was  manifestly  designed  by  Him  who  appoints  the 
seasons,  and  prescribes  the  duties  of  States  and  Empires.  It  shall  continue 
and  endure.     No  other  government  can  exist  here." 

With  these  eloquent  declarations  we  at  once  ascend  to  the  grandeur  of  the 
Bubject,  and  behold  the  great  Republic,  actuated  by  the  inevitable  tendency  of 
power  and  profit,  moving  forward  to  complete  dominion  over  North  America. 
The  boundary  linos  of  Canada  and  those  of  Mexico  will  soon  be  effaced,  and 
the  new  regions  absorbed  into  the  Federal  family.  Beyond  this  will  follow 
Central  America,  the  West  India  and  Sandwich  Islands,  and  still  beyond.  South 
America  will  furnish  a  new  field  of  industry  and  civil  government  for  the 
redundant  population  of  our  Continental  Republic;  and,  strengthened  by  the 
nniversality  of  one  language  and  one  law,  the  power  and  civil  mission  of  our 
'people  will  go  forth  from  one  people  to  another,  until  Old  England,  "proud 
and  potent  as  she  now  appears,"  shorn  of  her  colonies,  will,  like  a  widowed 
mother,  kindred  in  language  and  religion,  but  weak  like  the  shorn   Samson, 


108  ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE   GREAT    CITY. 

Bupplicate  the  young  child,  America,  for  sustenance  and  protection.  Thus 
will  America  move  forward  until^  in  political  power  and  prestige,  she 
becomes  the  New  Eorae  of  the  world,  and  in  industry  and  civilization  the 
Chinese  or  Celestial  Empire  of  the  earth — uniting  at  once,  in  universal  rela- 
tionship and  in  the  highest  possible  order  of  development,  and  under  one  con- 
stitution, the  representative  characters  of  the  two  mightiest  historic  nations 
of  the  earth. 

In  the  gift  of  empire,  dominion  will  be  hers,  and  her  flag  will  yet  wave  in 
amity  over  the  most  ancient  capitals  of  the  woi-ld.  Her  art  and  industry  will 
jet  make  the  earth  bloom  as  a  universal  Eden.  In  Epopseia  America  will  yet 
have  greater  poets  than  have  ever  walked  upon  the  earth.  In  classics  she  will 
have  her  Salamis  and  Lepanto,  her  Alhambra  and  Parthenon ;  and  with  a 
universal  recognition  of  the  principles  of  the  golden  rule  by  all,  who  will  not 
with  prayerful  hearts 

"  Hail  the  dawn  of  the  coming  day"  ? 

The  universality  of  one  language,  one  law,  and  one  religion  over  all  this 
continent,  will  be  invulnerable  to  the  powers  of  the  world.  Europe  and  Asia, 
distracted  with  their  many  languages,  nationalities,  and  religions,  will  con- 
tinue for  centuries  to  struggle  with  all  the  adversities  produced  by  discordant 
elements  among  nations  j  hence  the  civil  mission  of  our  people  will  be 
universal  and  beneficent  to  all  parts  of  the  world.  Intervening  between  the 
two  great  oceans  of  the  globe,  ours  cannot  fail  to  be  the  great  representative 
nation  of  the  earth  in  its  population,  its  laws,  and  its  commerce. 

In  its  bosom  all  the  extremes  of  the  earth  will  bo  represented,  and  to  its 
growth  a' I  parts  of  the  world  will  contribute.  We  look  around.  East,  "West, 
North  and  South,  and  in  every  land  foreign  powers  watch  our  progress  with 
awe,  and  seek  favor  from  our  institutions.  After  all,  it  is  America  that  will 
inherit  the  earth. 

India  with  its  200,000,000,  China  with  its  400,000,000,  Polynesia  with  its 
26,006,000  —  more  than  two-thirds  of  the  whole  human  race — are  only  now  for 
the  first  time  really  open  to  our  enterprise  and.  commerce  ;  and  "  no  matter  in 
what  region  a  desirable  product  is  bestowed  on  man  by  a  liberal  Providence, 
or  fabricated  by  human  skill  —  it  may  clothe  the  hills  of  China  with  its 
fragrant  foliage  —  it  may  glitter  in  the  golden  sands  of  California  —  it  may 
wallow  in  the  depths  of  the  Arctic  Seas — it  may  ripen  and.  whiten  in  the 
fertile  plains  of  the  sunny  South  —  it  may  spring  forth  from  the  flying  shuttles 
of  Manchester  in  England,  or  Manchester  jn  America — the  great  world-magnet 
of  commerce  will  attract  it  alike,"  and  to  us  will  be  given  sumptuously  from 
the  bountiful  supply,  as  it  is  "  all  gathered  up  for  the  service  of  man."  Then, 
conscious  of  a  transcendent  destiny  for  the  Great  Eepublic  of  the  world,  and 
the  co-equal  industrial  mission  of  the  American  people,  the  hopes  and  motives 
of  all  are  made  doubly  strong  as  they  go  forward  in  the  battle  of  life. 

Already  the  nation  is  in  a  great  transition ;  its  very  life  is  epical  and  unen- 
cumbered. From  its  crucifixion  between  the  two  thieves,  slavery  and  rebellion, 
it  triumphantly  rides  over  the  billowy  waves  of  sad  and  desolating  war  into 


ST,    LOUIS>  TUE   FUTLUt:   GUEAT    CITY.  109 

the  haven  of  peace,  hope,  and  prosperity.  But  the  suhjoct  must  not  be  dis- 
jnissod  without  its  appropriate  Ioshoii  of  patriotism — a  plea  for  an  unchanging 
devotion  of  the  citizen  to  the  Union  of  the  States,  as  an  absolute  necessity  for 
the  perpetuity  of  the  life  of  the  liopublic.  The  truest  and  broadest  sense  of 
filial  love  is  understood  to  be  a  love  of  country  —  loyalty,  patriotism.  The 
necessity  of  this  devotional  sentiment  or  principle,  by  the  citizen  to  the  govern- 
ment, is  just  as  important  to  the  welfare  of  mankind  as  the  devotion  of  the 
individual  to  so<iioty.  Each  citizen  is  a  part  of  the  whole;  the  -whole  a  union 
of  States  and  individuals  for  common  defense  and  common  interest.  The  one 
complements  the  other.  In  all  ages  of  the  world,  patriotism  has  given  to  the 
citizen  the  qualities  of  the  hero,  and  furnished  the  orator,  the  statesman,  and 
the  poet  with  themes  of  unequaled  magnitude  and  grandeur. 

"  Our  countn'! — 'tis  a  ijlorious  land  ! 

With  broad  arms  stri'tclu'cl  i'vutn  shore  to  shore. 

Tho  proud  Piicilic  chatl-s  Iut  strand, 
Sho  hears  tlie  dark  Atlantic  roar." 
******* 

"  Groat  God  !  we  thank  Thee  for  this  honfie — 

This  bour.teoiis  hirtliland  of  the  free; 
"Where  wanderers  from  afiir  may  come. 

And  breatlie  the  air  of  liberty. 
Still  may  hor  flowers  untrampled  spring, 
*  Her  harvests  wave,  her  cities  rise  ; 
And  yet,  till  time  shall  fold  his  wine, 

llemain  earth's  loveliest  paradise. 

The  revolution  of  '76  sowed  in  the  hearts  of  the  American  people  the  seeds 
of  an  imperishable  devotion  to  the  Union  of  these  States — a  devotion  which 
nought  but  the  foulest  hand,  moved  by  the  most  corrupt  heart,  would  dare  to 
reach  forth  to  destroy;  and  though  we  are  now  in  the  midst  of  a  transition, 
such  as  comes  in  the  life  of  nations,  when  the  event  and  the  struggle  vastly 
overawes  the  individual  comprehension  and  convictions,  and  thus  leads  for  a 
time  to  an  unhappy  condition  and  dire  results,  it  needs  no  prophetic  eye  to 
see  beyond  to  the  new  unfoldment,  when  union  and  patriotism  will  again 
walk  together  all  over  this  broad  land,  as  Enoch  walked  with  God.  But  such 
a  result  will  not  be  the  fruit  of  a  miracle;  it  will  only  come  as  the  result  of 
earnest  and  devoted  toil,  thus  cultivating  in  the  hearts  of  the  American  people 
a  deep  and  fervent  attachment  to  Union. 

"What  man — what  woman — what  citizen — conscious  of  being  either  sire  or 
descendant  in  this  nation,  and  among  this  i)eople,  is  not  willing  to  share  even 
the  meanest  part  in  so  grand  a  mission  ?  The  destin}'  is  alike  to  the  State  and 
the  citizen;  tho  growth  and  prosperity  of  the  one  contributes  to  the  welfare 
of  the  other,  and  everywhere  under  the  shield  of  the  Constitution,  freedom 
is  tho  same  to  all.  What  land  affords  greater  opportunities  '/  What  ])eople  are 
more  equal  ? 

Turning,  then,  from  this  hopeful  consideration,  "and  beholding  my  country 
at  last  redeemed  and  fixed  in  history,  the  Columbus  of  nations,  once  in  chains, 
but  now  hailed  as  benefactor  and  discoverer,  who  gave  a  new  liberty  to  man- 
kind," let  us  anticipate  the  consummation  of  the  future,  and  with  the  eyes  of 
Cassandra,  behold  "  one  vast  confederation  stretching  from  the  frozen  Xorth 
in  one  unbroken  line  to  the  glowing  South,  and  from  the  wild  billows  of  the 


110  ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE   GREAT    CITY. 

Atlantic  westward  to  tho  calmer  waters  of  the  Pacific,  and  over  all  this  vast 

continent  one  people,  one  law,  one  language,  and  one  faith;  and  in  the  full 

fruition   of  our  arms   and  arts,,  our  industry  and  dominion,  this  whole  land 

begemmed  with  mighty  cities  of  civilization ;   then,  with  eyes  lifted   toward 

beaven,  behold  upon  the  starry  scroll  of  the  future  Columbia's  name  recorded, 

ner  future  honors  and  happiness  inscribed.     Then,  closing  the  vision,  let  us 

turn  to  man,  and  with  a  voice  that  will  reach  all  hearts  and  consciences,  bid 

him  go  forth  in  peace  to  the  great  mission  of  the  higher  and  better  conquest  of 

the  world  ;  and — 

" Thou,  too,  sail  on,  0  Ship  of  State; 
iSiiil  on,  O  Union,  strong  and  great ; 
Humanity,  with  all  its  fears, 
With  all  the  hope  of  future  years, 
Is  hanging  breathless  on  thy  "fate. ;; 
We  know  what  Master  laid  thy  keel, 
What  Workman  wrought  thy  ribs  of  steel; 
Who  made  each  mast,  and  sail,  and  rope, 
What  anvils  rang,  what  hammers  beat, 
In  what  a  forge,  and  what  a  heat 
Were  shaped  the  anchors  of  thy  hope. 
Fear  not  each  sudden  sound  and  shock — 
'Tis  of  the  wave,  and  not  the  rock, 
'Tis  but  the  flapping  of  the  sail. 
And  not  a  rent  made  by  the  gale. 
In  spite  of  rock  and  tempest's  roar. 
In  spite  of  false  lights  on  the  shore ; 
Sail  on,  nor  fear  to  breast  the  sea — 
Our  hearts,  our  hopes,  are  all  with  thee  ; 
Our  hearts,  our  hopes,  our  prayers,  our  tears, 
Our  faith  triumphant  o'er  our  fears, 
Are  all  with  thee  —  are  all  with  thee ! " 


AMERICA. 


"Melodia  rules  thy  destiny,  0  Land 
Of  coming  j-ears;  O  Enipire  wise  and  grand, 
America!  and  thou  at  last  shall  be 
The  consecrated  home  of  Poetry — 
The  fairer  Greece,  adorned  with  noblest  art. 

And  bathed  in  sacred  love  from  God's  creative  heart 
For  thee,  for  thee,  the  wise  Melodians  throng 
Even  now,  and  chant  in  Heaven  their  morning  sonff. 

.  For  thee  and  for  thy  sons  methinks  they  sing; 
They  come,  and  angel  songs  as  offerings  bring. 
For  thee  and  for  thy  race  methinks  they  cry, 
'Love,  Wisdom,  Inspiration,  Liberty, 
The  four  great  Angels  of  the  coming  time. 

To  their  Olympian  goal  lead  on  thy  race  sublime.' 
Thou  art  that  rock-built  Pharos  that  above 
Earth's  ocean  lifts  tlie  immoral  flame  of  love. 
E'en  now  thou  shinest  like  a  beacon-star. 
Leading  Earth's  myriads  o'er  the  deep  afar. 
Thou  art  the  lost  Atlantides  that  lay. 
To  ancient  thought,  beyond  the  waves  away ; 
The  New  Jerusalem  the  ancient  Seer 
Of  Patmos  saw,  descending  white  and  clear 
From  highest  heaven ;  the  rich  and  wise  Cathay 
Columbus  sousjht,  faith-guided,  on  his  way 
The  Old,  the  New,  the  J'uture,  and  the  Past, 
Meet  and  embrace,  complete  in  thee  at  last. 
Thou  art  the  crowning  flower  of  Earth  and  Time 
The  destined  Eden  of  Mankind  divine  " 


ST.    L0DI8,    THE   FUTURE   GRKAT    CITY.  HI 


THE  GREAT  BRIDGE  NOW  BEING  BUILT  ()VER  TIIB 
MISSISSIPPI,  AT  ST.  LOUIS. 


'•  "What  !\  Ejlorioas  future  may  we  not  anticipntc  for  our  own  St'  Louis !  Why,  sir,  I  imntjine  I 
can  see  the  Oriontnl  traveler,  on  his  brief  excursion  round  the  world,  pnuso  upon  the  ccntni!  span 
of  the  Ends  Bridsje,  and,  amid  a  prodigality  of  gigantic  achievements  of  science  and  progreosive 
effort,  still  road  in  the  distant  future  developnieats  of  equal  or  greater  magnitude.  Ho  slancU 
upon  a  structure  which  rests  upon  the  deep  foundations  of  the  earth  itself,  and  presents  in  iti 
strength  and  mjvssivo  grandeur,  m  its  piers  of  granite  and  arches  of  steel,  fit  emblems  of  our  moral 
as  well  as  physicals  tructures,  the  steadfastness  and  wisdom  of  our  institutions,  and  the  solidity  of 
our  industries.  Beneath  him  flows  the  great  Father  of  "Waters,  bearing  on  its  bosom  the  argosie* 
of  an  empire,  while  on  every  hand  the  evidences  of  triumphant  art  command  his  attention.  A  city 
of  1,000,000  inhabitants  lies  before  him,  and  it  may  be  on  one  of  its  ascending  steppes  the  capital 
of  the  nation  rears  its  peerless  dome.  Strange  wonders,  these,  of  Time's  begetting,  ana  of 
progressive  revolutions  !  The  providential  mystery  which  hid  this  continent  from  the  knowledge 
of  the  civilized  world  for  thovisaiids  of  j-ears',  begins  to  clear  away  under  the  sunshine  of  facta 
which  surrounds  him,  and  the  grand  revelation  is  made  that  it  w.as  reserved  for  a  period  when 
mankind  should  aim  to  bo  fraternal,  and  the  victories  of  peace  should  be  acknowledged  tfao 
«rowning  glories  of  ambition."— B.  R.  Bonner. 

Each  age  and  each  nation  produces  its  great  works  in  somo  phase  of  human 
progress.  The  early  Jews  built  the  tower  of  Babel;  Egypt  had  the  pyramids 
and  Catacombs  ;  Greece  hor  Parthenon  and  uncqualed  temples  of  worship  ; 
Eomo  had  her  Coliseum ;  the  middle  ages  their  walled  cities.  But  modern 
ciyilization,  passing  beyond  the  age  of  selfishness,  ambition,  and  idolatry,  givei 
to  mankind  magnificent  structures  of  greater  use  as  the  triumphs  of  th« 
genius  of  the  race. 

The  greatest  work  of  mechanical  art  that  the  world  has  yet  beheld  is  tht 
Crystal  Palace  of  the  nineteenth  century.  It  combines  in  one  grand  master- 
piece of  art,  and  one  glow  of  associated  beauty,  the  highest  civilization  and 
progress  of  man. 

The  leading  feature  of  the  present  age  is  the  strife  for  commercial  dominiom. 
In  this  department  of  civilization  is  enlisted  more  capital,  talent,  and  men 
than  in  any  other.  All  the  rapid  strides  of  the  race  are  made  in  its  interest — 
whether  in  the  achievement  of  art,  of  science,  or  of  genius.  The  wild  billowi 
of  the  Atlantic  have  been  defied  by  steam  and  electricity,  and  the  two  great 
continents  of  kindred  shores  united  by  these  subtle  agents ;  and  now  with  one 
Bteady  grand  march  does  civilization,  carried  by  the  tides  of  men,  continue  ite 
journey  to  the  West — to  the  high  mountains,  and  the  broad  and  calmer  waters 
of  the  wide  Pacific  Ocean.  With  these  great  movements  oome  the  master- 
works  of  mechanics  and  arts. 

Since  the  invention  of  the  steam  engine,  the  railway  system  may  be  regarded 
as  the  greatest  aid  to  civilization  the  arts  have  produced,  on  account  of  the  rapid 


112  ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE    GREAT    CITY. 

intercommuuion  of  men  and  ideas,  and  the  exchange  of  products.  Bnt  a  great 
and  valuable  railway  system  without  bridges  to  cross  the  inland  streams  would 
be  an  impossibility}  hence  the'remarkable  development  of  genius  and  art,  and 
the  concentration  of  capital,  to  construct  in  ample  proportions  these  master- 
fabrics  for  commercial  use.  Nor  are  they  constructed  as  the  easy  work  com- 
mon to  the  ordinary  routine  of  life.  But  rather  are  they,  who  pi'oject  great 
works  in  advance  of  the  resistless  moving  times,  compelled  to  contend  against 
a  vast  array  of  ignorance,  prejudice,  and  selfishness.  Yes,  there  is  one  thing 
common  in  the  history  of  all  great  undertakings  that  have  to  break  a  new 
path  :  they  have  to  combat  against  frivolous  objections  and  contempt,  and, 
even  in  the  best  cases,  against  the  unsympathetic  attitude  of  the  masses.  At 
the  same  time  it  must  be  confessed  that  these  opposing  elements  have  never 
failed  to  pass  into  their  opposites,  as  soon  as  perseverance,  talent,  and  business 
energy  on  the  part  of  individuals  have,  in  spite  of  them,  realized  what  has 
once  been  acknowledged  as  possible  and  necessary.  In  all  such  cases  contempt 
has  been  exchanged  for  admiration,  doubt  has  been  comjjelled  to  give  way  ;  and 
the  more  rapidly  and  victoriously  the  enterprise,  which  was  once  so  strongly 
doubted  or  even  assailed,  progresses,  the  more  surprisingly  does  the  number  of 
those  increase  who  would  fain  have  it  believed  that  they  stood  as  prophets  of 
good  by  its  cradle.  Such  was  the  case — to  confine  our  examples  to  American 
soil — with  the  Erie  canal,  with  the  leveling  of  Chicago,  with  the  Pacific 
railroads,  and  finally  with  that  immense  structure  which,  before  the  face  of  St. 
Louis,  is  soon  destined  to  span  the  Father  of  Waters.  This  one  circumstance 
might  be  sufficient  to  secure  the  work  its  proper  place  among  the  great  feats 
of  humanity  in  modern  times.  But  such  is  no  longer  necessary  as  an  argu- 
ment ;  the  structure  has  its  days  of  combat  behind  it — already  its  creators  can 
point  with  silent  finger  to  the  actual  progress  which  it  has  made,  and  to  the 
point  which  it  has  at  this  moment  attained,  and  allow  that  which  has  already 
been  accomplished  to  speak  for  that  which  is  j'et  to  be  accomplished.  And  it 
speaks  irresistibly ;  it  tells  us  not  only  that  the  completion  of  a  work  which  in 
its  line  has  no  peer,  is  certain,  but  it  tells  us  also  that,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
Pacific  railways,  the  goal  will  be  reached  many  a  day  sooner  than  the  original 
calculations  and  pre-suppositions  led  us  to  expect. 

That  the  trade  of  the  central  portion  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  which  centers 
in  St.  Louis,  and  advances  every  year  with  such  gigantic  strides,  was  not 
sufficiently  provided  for  by  the  present  arrangements  for  transportation  across 
the  broad  stream  which  separates  Missouri  and  Illinois,  or,  to  speak  more  cor- 
rectly, the  true  East  and  West  of  the  United  States,  has  been  known  and  seen 
by  every  one  for  many  years. 

Passing  from  this  general  allusion  to  the  struggle  which  enterprise  is  com- 
pelled to  wage  against  established  conditions,  we  at  once  submit  a  general 
statement  of  the  great  Bridge  under  consideration. 

The  plan  of  the  Bridge,  as  it  is  now  being  built,  is  quite  original  in  many 
particulars,  and  when  completed  will,  in  all  probability,  be  superior  to  any 
structure  of  the  kind  in  the  world.  So  great  and  important  is  the  structure, 
that  a  complete  description  of  its  main  work  will  not  be  uninteresting  to  the 


ST.    LOUIS,    TUE   FUTURE   GREAT    CITY.  113 

general  reader;  for  the  work  itself  has  its  lesson  as  well  as  its  value,  and 
therefore  its  manner  of  building,  as  well  as  its  style  of  structure,  will  be  of 
great  public  interest.  , 

THE  PIERS    OP   THE   BRIDGE. 

The  locality  at  the  river  chosen  for  the  bridge  is  a  scene  of  the  strangest  and 
most  exciting  kind.  Along  the  banks  are  extensive  workshops,  heaps  of  hewn 
stone,  beams,  iron -work  and  cement  barrels,  forges,  offices  and  sheds  for  sup- 
plies, derricks  and  other  arrangements  for  hoisting,  and  pile-drivers,  whose 
construction  alone  is  a  sort  of  miracle,  and  finally  the  lofty  bridge-scatfoldinirs 
composed  of  thousands  of  beams,  arms,  and  parts  of  iron  machines  over  the 
shore  piers,  which  are  in  progress  of  construction  inside  of  strong  caissons. 
In  the  midst  of  the  river,  500  feet  from  either  shore,  and  520  feet  distant  from 
each  other,  we  see  the  same  scaflbldings,  only  more  complicated  and  more 
lofty,  and,  notwithstanding  their  colossal  size,  affording  an  almost  elegant 
spectacle  in  their  wonderful  symmetr}".  Structures  of  all  kinds,  and  palisades 
that  go  down  a  hundred  feet  into  the  river,  intended  to  break  the  current, 
and  more  particularly  the  floating  ice  in  winter,  surround  these  wonderful 
constructions  that  rise  from  the  bosom  of  the  river. 

Like  the  building  yards  on  shore,  and  even  more  than  these,  they  are 
crowded  with  a  perfect  bee-hive  of  engineers  and  workmen,  whose  self- 
conscious  ability  is  infinitely  increased  by  the  enormous  mechanical  powers 
which  stand  here  ready  for  use  at  every  step,  in  the  form  of  floating  derricks, 
sioam  engines,  pumps,  and  hydraulic  jacks.  These  are  the  building  yards  of  the 
two  piers.  Under  these  scaffoldings  and  iron  constructions  the  heavy  masses 
of  stone  which  ai*e  intended  to  carry  and  hold  the  three  arches  of  the  bridge 
mostly  counterparts  of  the  ponderous  structures  of  the  ancient  Egyptians,  are 
put  together.  But  how  much  easier  was  the  task  of  those  ancients,  who  piled 
up  their  edifices  in  the  familiar  element  of  atmospheric  air  !  In  our  case  they 
had  to  penetrate  into  the  deeps,  but  not,  like  the  minor,  into  the  solid  clement 
of  the  earth;  they  had  to  break  through  a  volume  of  water  thirty  feet  deep, 
and,  after  arriving  at  the  bottom,  to  burrow  through  the  sixty  and  ninety-feet 
thick  layers  of  treacherous,  ever-changing  ilississippi  sand,  in  order  to  rest 
the  basis  of  the  piers  upon  the  eternal  ribs  of  the  earth  itself,  on  the  rocks  of 
primeval  worlds. 

The  investigations  of  years  in  regard  to  the  umlorcurrcnt  of  the  Mississippi 
have  shown  that  no  river  in  the  world  changes  its  sand-bed  so  rapidly  and  to 
such  an  extent ;  and  more  particularly  the  sounding*  that  were  made  near  St. 
Louis  showed  that  at  times,  when  the  river  overflows,  its  sand-layers  may  be 
carried  away  to  the  depth  of  forty  feet,  and,  under  extraordinary  circum- 
stances, scoured  down  to  the  very  rock  itself.  Thus  was  denrionstrated  the 
necessity  of  laying  the  basis  of  the  piers  upon  the  rock  itself,  which  under  one 
pier  is  ninety  feet,  under  the  other  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet,  under  the 
ordinary  high-water  line.  Inasmuch,  on  the  other  hand,  as  the  law  of  Congress, 
made  in  the  interest  of  navigation,  proscribes  that  the  height  of  the  arches 
shall  be  fifty  foot  above  the  city  directrix,  or  onlinary  high-water  line  of  tho 


114  ST.    LOUIS,    THE  FUTURE   GREAT    CITIC. 

river,  it  results  that  the  entire  height  of  the  piera  muBt  reach  165  and  194  feet 
respectively. 

The  system  by  which  the  base  is  laid  upon  the  rock  is  that  of  sinking.  0» 
colossal  iron  caissons  (open  below  and  resting  upon  the  sand  itself),  which, 
with  the  increasing  weight  of  the  piers  built  on  top  of  them,  and  as  the 
sand  under  them  is  removed  to  the  upper  world,  sink  deeper  and  deeper,  this 
lowering  is  effected.  In  order,  however,  to  render  the  caissons — which,  in  spite 
of  the  thickness  of  their  iron  walls  and  their  solid  construction,  might  not  be 
able  to  withstand  the  pressure  of  the  growing  masonry  and  the  masses  of  sand 
that  press  against  their  side  walls  —  capable  of  resistance,  the  atmosphere,  by 
means  of  enormous  air-pumps,  is  compressed  in  them  in  such  a  manner  that 
their  power  of  resistance  can  be  increased  to  meet  any  exigency.  When  th© 
caisson  or  air-chamber,  as  it  is  called  with  propriety,  strikes  upon  the  rock — 
that  is,  when  the  sand-pumps  working  it  have  removed  the  gigantic  layers  of 
sand  through  which  it  had  to  penetrate,  and  when  the  pier  that  rests  on  the 
caisson  is  separated  only  by  the  air-chamber  from  the  rock — then  it  (the 
caisson)  is  filled  with  concrete,  which  completes  the  indissoluble  connection 
between  pier  and  rock.  When  the  last  particle  of  compressed  air  in  the  air- 
chamber  has  given  place  to  this  indestructible  compound  of  cement  and  stone, 
all  that  remains  to  be  done  is  to  fill  up  in  a  similar  manner  the  perpendicular 
shafts  which  communicate  between  the  air-chamber  and  the  upper  world,  and 
the  whole  structure  of  the  pier  in  solid  compactness,  incorporated  with  th« 
rock  far  below,  stands  aloft,  bathing  high  above  its  colossal  and  yet  elegant 
form  in  the  rays  of  the  sun,  out  of  the  floods  of  the  river. 

IN   THE  AIR-CEAMBEE. 

During  the  last  few  months  a  visit  to  one  of  the  air-chambers  under  the  pierg 
was  one  of  the  principal  attractions  that  St.  Louis  had  to  show  to  visitors. 
The  further  the  piers  themselves  advanced — that  is,  the  deeper  the  air-chamber 
sunk  with  its  burden — the  greater  was  the  compression  of  the  air  necessary  to 
render  them  capable  of  supporting  the  immense  weight  which  increased  witk 
every  inch  of  sinking,  and  all  the  harder  was  the  work  inside  the  caisson. 
When  the  air-chamber  of  the  east  pier,  on  the  28th  of  February  last,  reached 
the  depth  of  ninety-five  feet  under  the  bed  of  the  river,  with  a  weight  of  20,000 
tons  upon  it,  the  workman  who  removed  the  last  of  the  sand  had  to  work  under 
the  pressure  of  three  atmospheres;  and  it  was  not  possible  so  entirely  to  avoid 
all  kinds  of  mischances,  as  has  hitherto  been  the  case,  without  changing  the 
workmen  as  frequently  as  possible.  In  order  to  afford  a  more  complete  under, 
standing  of  the  matter,  we  must  remark  that  the  introduction  of  the  compressed 
air  into  the  caisson  can  be  measured  with  such  wonderful  accuracy  that  the 
sinking  can  be  regulated  to  an  inch.  This  sinking  is  accurately  calculated 
according  to  the  quantity  of  the  sand  removed  from  beneath  the  air-chamber, 
which  is  nine  feet  high.  The  sand  itself  is  removed  by  means  of  powerful 
pumps,  which  pump  up  the  sand  in  great  streams  after  it  has  been  softened  and 
brought  in  the  condition  of  drifting  sand  by  means  of  water  supplied  from  a 
hose,  and  then  driven  back  to  the  river  from  whose  depths  it  had  been  taken. 


BT.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURB   GREAT   CITY.  115 

As  WO  have  already  said,  a  number  of  shafts  passing  vertically  down  the 
pier  eflfect  a  chimney  kind  of  a  communication  between  the  air-chamber 
and  the  upper  world.  In  the  central  and  widest  of  these  was  a  winding 
Btair-oase,  which  was  lengthened  as  the  pier  reached  downward,  and  was 
used  for  people  to  pass  up  and  down.  The  smaller  shafts,  which  also  passed 
down  the  pier  perpendicularly,  contained  the  pipes  which  serve  to  introduce 
the  compressed  air,  the  hose  for  moistening  the  sand,  the  pump  which  removes 
it,  machines  for  the  introduction  of  materials,  and  a  telegraphic  arrangement 
by  means  of  which  the  workmen  from  beneath,  "where  all  things  hideous  are," 
are  able  to  correspond  every  moment  with  "those  that  breathe  in  the  rosy 
light." 

The  entrance  into  the  caisson  itself  was  effected  by  means  of  an  air-lock  at 
the  bottom  of  the  winding  stair-case — a  lock  which,  like  the  caisson,  is  con- 
structed of  thick  iron,  and  is  an  integral  part  of  it.  As  soon  as  ihe  chamber 
was  entered,  which  was  capable  of  holding  six  or  eight  persons,  the  current  of 
air  admitted  rushed  round  with  such  impetuosity  that  even  strong  organiza- 
tions entering  this  kingdom  of  darkness  and  night  for  the  first  time  could  not 
disembarrass  themselves  of  a  certain  fooling  of  uneasiness.  The  iron  door  that 
led  to  the  outer  world  pressed  firmer  against  its  frame,  by  the  force  of  the  air 
streaming  in,  than  could  be  done  by  a  lock  or  any  other  contrivance.  The 
■top-cock  through  which  the  air  streamed  in  was  not  closed  until  the  atmos- 
phere in  the  air-lock  had  reached  the  same  density  as  that  in  the  main  part  of 
the  caisson.  As  soon  as  this  was  the  case  the  door  leading  into  the  caisson 
opened  of  itself,  and  we  were  ready  to  enter  this  subterraneous  worlwhop,  where 
even  the  clearest  voice  loses  its  sound,  and  where,  deep  under  the  echo  of  human 
speech — yea,  deep  under  the  water's  undermost  depths — busy  workmen  pave  the 
way  for  the  sinking  pier. 

For  a  while  one  felt  perfectly  comfortable  in  this  underworld  —  a  world 
Buch  as  no  mythology  and  no  superstition  ever  dreamed  of.  The  transition 
indeed,  became  apparent  by  pain  in  the  ears,  bleeding  at  the  nose,  or  a  feeling 
of  suffocation;  but  those  inconveniences  and  seeming  dangers,  inevitable  upon 
•uch  a  visit  to  hell,  wore  insignificant  in  comparison  with  the  interest  which  it 
offered.  It  was  undertaken  by  hundreds  and  hundreds  of  visitors,  including 
many  ladies,  and  none  returned  from  that  depth  without  carrying  along  with 
them  one  of  the  most  remarkable  reminiscences  of  their  whole  life.  Shrouded 
in  a  mantle  of  vapor  labor  the  workmen  there,  loosening  the  sand;  dim  flicker 
the  flames  of  tho  lumps,  and  the  air  had  such  a  strange  density  and  moisture 
that  one  wandered  about  almost  as  if  he  were  in  a  dream.  For  a  short  time  all 
this  was  extremely  interesting  and  delightful,  but  it  was  not  long  before  the  wish 
to  escape  again  from  this  strange  situation  gained  tho  upper  hand  over  the 
charm  which  it  exercised.  Gladly  did  tho  visitor,  after  a  quarter  of  an  hour, 
re-enter  the  air-lock,  with  an  unfeigned  feeling  of  relief,  to  watch  the  air 
beginning  to  escape  from  thip  chamber.  At  once  the  door  behind  him  leading 
from  the  caisson  closed  by  the  denser  air,  and  fastened  as  firmly  as  if  there 
"was  a  mountain  behind  it.  The  compressed  element  escaped  whistling  from 
the  air-lock;  tho  air  within  was  more  and  more  equalized  with  the  air  without; 


116  ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE    GREAT    CITY. 

a  few  minutes,  and  they  were  of"  equal  density ;  then  the  door,  no  longer 
pressed  against  its  frame  by  the  dense  atmosphere,  opened  to  the  winding 
stairs,  and  the  visitor  came  forth  taking  a  long  breath,  and,  to  use  Schiller's 
words,  once  more  "greets  the  heavenly  light"  which  shone  from  far  above 
down  the  shaft. 

THE    BRIDGE   WHEN    COMPLETED. 

At  present  both  the  piers  may  be  considered  as  finished.  The  east  pier  has 
been  resting  with  its  caisson  on  the  rock  since  the  28th  of  February,  and  the 
filling  of  the  chambers  was  then  rapidly  accompl-ished.  Its  western  companion 
had  then  only  three  feet  more  to  sink,  and  this  it  might  have  done  in  a  very 
short  time,  but  the  supply  of  granite  failed  to  arrive  in  time,  and  so  inter- 
rupted the  building  itself.  It  is  laid  down  in  the  plan  that  the  portion  of  the 
piers  above  water,  and  exposed  to  the  action  of  the  air,  shalf  be  built  of  the 
strongest  granite,  while  the  parts  extending  from  the  rock  lo  a  certain  point 
under  the  lowest  water  shall  be  built  from  limestone  blocks  from  Grafton 
quarry,  in  Illinois.  When  the  expected  granite  arrived,  the  construction  of 
the  piers  above  the  surface  of  the  water  made  rapid  progress,  and  in  a  few 
weeks  they  will  have  reached*  the  prescribed  height  of  fifty  feet  above  the 
water  level.  Their  total  height,  or,  if  you  prefer  it,  their  total  depth,  will 
then,  as  stated  above,  be  194  and  165  feet  respectively — the  east  pier  being  the 
highest,  because  the  rock  on  the  Illinois  side  of  the  river  lies  deeper  than  it 
does  on  the  Missouri  side.  The  hexagonal  foundation  of  the  piers  is  82  feet  in 
length  ;  their  weight  amounts  to  from  28,000  to  33,000  tons.  No  less  solid  and 
massive  is  the  construction  of  the  abutments.  In  their  case,  likewise,  they 
had  to  go  down  to  the  rocks.  Upon  the  Missouri  side  of  the  river  this 
presented  little  difficulty,  which,  however,  will  be  made  up  for  on  the  Illinois 
side,  on  account  of  the  nature  of  the  American  bottom.  On  this  side  the 
works  are  already  advancing,  inside  a  gigantic  coffer-dam,  towards  the  surface. 
On  the  other  side  they  are  just  being  begun.  We  know,  however,  that  in  the 
character  of  this  work  a  beginning  is  the  beginning  of  a  certain,  and  particu- 
larly of  an  early,  termination.  It  will  therefore  not  be  long  before  the  Illinois 
abutment  will  rapidly  follow  its  vis-a-vis  and  the  two  piers. 

These  four  piers  will  form  the  substructure  which  now  approaches  its 
termination  with  rapid  strides.  Upon  the  masses  thereof,  which  are  put 
together  to  last  for  an  eternity,  the  bridge  itself  will  rest,  which  is  destined  to 
facilitate  the  proudest  inland  commerce  over  the  proudest  of  streams.  They 
will  carry  three  arches,  which,  as  was  already  remarked,  will  measure — those 
extending  from  the  abutments  to  the  piers  500  feet  each,  and  the  span  of  the 
principal  arch  between  the  two  piers  520  feet.  The  possibility  of  erecting  such 
long  spans,  considering  the  enormous  weight  which  they  will  have  to  bear,  was 
at  fii'st  strongly  doubted,  and  still  more  strongly  contested.  Captain  Eads, 
however,  sustained  on  the  one  side  by  his  calculations,  on  the  other  by  the 
example  of  the  arched  bridge  at  Kulinburg,  in  Holland,  which  spans  the  Leek 
with  a  span  of  500  feet,  as  well  as  by  the  plans  of  the  English  bridge-engineer 


ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE    QUEAT    CITY.  117 

Telford,  which  were  , made  in  the  bo^'niiing  of  tliis  century,  was  enabled  to 
invalidate  and  set  aside  all  these  olijections.  Cast-steel  is  selected  as  the 
material  of  thone  arches  Each  of  them  will  be  double,  that  is  to  say,  will 
consist  of  two  concentric  arches  12  feet  apart,  and  joined  to^^ethcr  by  a  network 
of  the  most  massive  steel  braces.  Such  double  arches  will  be  stretched  four 
in  each  span,  runnin*:^  parallel  with  each  other  from  pier  to  pier.  Upon  their 
iron  necks  will  bo  laid  the  real  bridge  in  two  stories.  The  lower  of  these 
stories  is  intended  for  the  railways;  the  upper  belongs  to  vehicles  and  foot 
passengers.  Being  fifty  feet  wide,  both  will  afford  space  enough  to  satisfy  the 
demands  of  the  liveliest  traffic.  Meanwhile,  underneath,  the  largest  steamers, 
even  when  the  water  is  at  its  highest,  may  dash  along ;  and  while  over  them 
the  East  and  West  exchange  their  riches,  they  may,  unimpeded,  perform  the 
exchange  between  the  North  and  the  South.  St.  Louis,  however,  will  not  only 
have  the  boldest  arch  bridge  in  the  world,  but  it  will  also  have  the  first  struc- 
ture of  the  kind  built  of  steel,  the  true  noble  metal  of  our  times.  Let  us  leave 
to  Europe  her  Krupp  and  her  arsenal  full  of  cast-steel  cannon— the  one  sfeel 
bridge  over  the  Mississippi  casts  into  the  shade  all  that  equivocal  wealth  of  the 
old  world. 

It  remains  to  say  a  few  words  in  regard  to  the  shore  structures,  or,  more 
properly,  to  the  approaches  to  the  bridge.  The  street  leading  directly  to  the 
bridge — Washington  avenue — is  one  of  the  broadest  and  finest  in  St.  Louis. 
Like  the  whole  of  the  St.  Louis  shore,  it  slopes  rapidly  when  it  approaches  the 
river.  It  will  bo  sufficient,  therefore,  to  prolong  the  bridge,  which  rises  about 
fifty  feet  above  the  shore,  a  comparatively  short  distance — three  blocks — 1,049 
feet  into  the  city,  in  order  that  its  level  may  equal  that  of  Washington  avenue. 
A  viaduct  of  five  arches,  of  twenty-seven  feet  span  each,  under  which  the  traffic 
of  the  crosa  streets  below  may  be  carried  on  unobstructedly,  will  form  the 
continuation  of  the  bridge,  and  of  course  will  be  of  the  same  height  and 
breadth.  At  the  end  of  it  the  high  level  road  will  pass  into  Washington  avenue, 
which  still  continues  to  rise,  whereas  the  low  level  road,  with  its  railways,  will 
run  into  a  tunnel,  4,800  feet  in  length,  which  pdsses  under  a  large  portion  of 
the  city,  and  terminates  at  the  spot  where  the  great  St.  Louis  Central  Railroad 
Depot  will  be  erected — where  at  present  the  Pacific  railroad  crosses  Eleventh 
street.  The  tunnel  will  bo  fifteen  feet  wide  and  seventeen  feet  high.  By 
means  of  soundings  and  borings  it  has  been  ascertained  that  there  are  only 
layers  of  clay  to  be  tunneled  through,  and  therefore  the  latter  portion  of  the 
enterprise  will  offer  no  particular  difficulties.  With  the  approach  to  the  bridge 
over  the  flat  marshy  ground  on  the  Illinois  shore,  the  company  itself  has  nothing 
whatever  to  do.  Dykes  and  trestles,  branching  off  according  to  the  conve- 
nience of  the  different  railroad  companies  to  north,  south,  or  east,  will  complete 
the  connection  with  the  bridge.  The  upper  carriage-way  will  be  carried  out 
upon  solid  constructions  as  far  as  Fourth  street  in  East  St.  Louis,  from  which 
point  the  Missouri  traffic  will  divide  up  in  all  directions. 

And  now,  what  will  this  gigantic  work — measuring  from  the  Illinois  abut- 
ment to  Washington  avenue,  in  St.  Louis,  2,230  feet— cost  ?  We  put  down  the 
estimates  for  the  different  parts,  as  well  as  for  the  whole  structure  : 


1 


118  ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE   GREAT   CITY. 

Superstructure  (piers  and  abutments) $1,540,080  00 

Superstructure  (arches  and  roads  for  traffic) ~ 1,460,418  30 

Approaches 520,397  24 

Tunnel 410,477  55 

_Expropriation3 ^. c 539,900  00 

Bailroad -       25,680  00 

Total  expense  of  bridge $4,496,953  09 

Of  this  capital,  three  millions  ($1,200,000  in  St.  Louis,  the  rest  in  New- 
York)  have  already  been  subscribed,  and  the  outlay  up  to  the  present  moment 
is  81,700,000.  At  the  same  time  the  financial  management  has  hitherto  been 
BO  successful,  and  the  different  contracts  made  so  advantageously,  that  the 
progress  of  the  bridge  will  certainly  not  ba  interrupted  by  any  pecuniary 
diflSculties.  No  less  certain  is  it  that  advantage  will  be  taken  of  the  work  as 
soon  as  it  is  completed.  The  data  which  have  been  made  and  collected  with 
extreme  care  in  regard  to  this  point  by  one  of  the  directors.  Dr.  William 
Taussig — who  must  be  considered  one  of  the  most  energetic  promoters  and 
patrons  of  the  great  national  enterprise — lead  to  the  following  results  : 

At  least  thirteen  railroads  will  have  their  terminus  on  the  Illinois  shore  of 
the  Mississippi  in  East  St.  Louis.  And  at  least  eleven  railways  will  soon  leave 
St.  Louis  itself,  cutting  the  State  of  Missouri  in  all  directions.  Of  only  three 
of  all  these  have  we  any  statistical  reports,  and  these  relate  only  to  the  freight 
traffic  of  the  year  1867.  They  show  that  during  that  year  767,400  tons  of 
freight  were  carried  over  these  lines.  The  most  modest  estimate  of  the  traffic 
of  twelve  railways,  which  will  be  the  total  number  finished  and  in  operation 
before  the  completion  of  the  bridge,  cannot  place  it  below  a  million  of  tons. 
The  contracts  already  made  with  the  different  railway  companies,  and  those 
still  to  be  negotiated,  secure  to  the  Bridge  Company  an  average  tariff  of  65 
cents  a  ton,  which  would  yield  a  yearly  revenue  from  freight  alone  of  6550,500. 
The  remaining  traffic  (horse-cars,  coal  carts,  farmers'  wagons,  and  other  freight 
conveyances,  along  with  cattle  transport),  according  to  present  estimates,  may 
be  reckoned  at  §129,647,  and  passengers  on  the  railways  $112,000,  so  that  alto- 
gether the  total  revenue  would  amount  to  $892,147.  From  this  sum  $40,000 
must  be  subtracted  for  annual  incidental  expenses,  and  there  will  remain  over 
a  Bum  equal  to  eight  and  a  half  per  cent,  on  a  capital  of  ten  millions. 

It  is  expected  that  the  bridge  will  be  inaugurated  in  the  last  days  of  next 
year.  However,  if  we  may  draw  a  conclusion  from  the  past  favors  of  fortune 
upon  the  work,  the  latter  part  of  the  summer  of  1871  will  see  the  first  train  of 
cars  pass  over  the  steel  and  granite  structures  of  this  unrivaled  bridge.  Then 
it  will  not  only  be  a  source  of  pride  to  every  Missourian  in  particular  and  every 
American  in  general,  but  its  massive  and  yet  magnificently  elegant  forms  will 
be  a  source  of  astonishment  to  the  ordinary  spectator  and  of  admiring  appre- 
ciation to  the  professional  engineer.  Then  likewise  will  be  brilliantly  verified 
the  words  with  which  the  architect  closed  the  report  which  he  laid  before  the 
company  in  the  epiing  of  1868,  and  which  are  as  follows : 

"  It  is  safe  in  stating  that  rarely  has  an  enterprise  been  inaugurated  which 
appeals  so  strongly  to  the  support  of  our  citizens  of  all  classes,  which  promises 


ST.    LOUIS,    TUK   FUTUHIS    GKEAT    CITY.  119 

SO  much  to  add  to  the  welfare  and  prosperity  of  the  city,  ana  which  ofl'crd  such 
A  safe  and  remunerative  return  for  the  labor  and  capital  invested  in  it." 

At  the  pro8ont  time  the  west  pior  is  sunk  to  the  rock,  and  the  air-chambera 
of  both  piers,  and  the  shafts  in  them,  have  been  filled  up  with  concrete  •  and 
the  masonr}'  has  been  carried  up  to  about  six  feet  above  low-water  lines.  The 
caisson  for  the  east  abutment  is  being  built  at  Carondolet,  and  will  be  launched 
about  August  10th  of  this  yenv. 

The  west  abutment  has  also  been  built  up  to  about  twelve  feet  above  low. 
water,  and  by  February  1st  of  next  year  all  the  masonry  of  the  pier/i  will  be 
ready  for  the  superstructure.  The  contract  for  the  superstructure  has  been 
awarded  to  the  Kingston  Bridge  Company,  of  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  and  that  com-  • 
pany  is  now  working  in  the  most  urgent  manner  to  fill  their  contract,  which 
obliges  them  to  furnish  and  raise  the  superstructure  of  the  bridge  within  seven- 
teen months.  A  notable  feature  of  this  contract  consists  in  the  fact  that  it  has 
been  let  at  prices  below  those  estimated  by  the  Chief  Engineer. 

This  constitutes  a  brief  outline  description  of  the  great  St.  Louis  Railway 
and  Passenger  Bridge,  which  is  now  in  process  of  construction. 

A  very  brief  classification  of  the  approved  bridges  of  the  day,  and  an 
allusion  to  specimens  of  the  various  kinds,  will,  perhaps,  enable  the  ca-^ual 
reader  to  receive  a  better  impression  of  the  magnitude  of  the  St.  Louis  bridge. 
There  are  four  prominent  styles  of  bfidges,  which  are  generally  adopted  by 
the  engineering  profession  when  they  aim  to  erect  something  that  will  endure 
to  remote  generations — the  tubular,  the  suspension^  the  lattice,  and  the  arch — 
all  constructed  of  iron,  in  one  or  more  of  its  forms.  The  tubular,  invented  by 
Robert  Stephenson,  although  materially  aided  by  Fairbairn,  will  always,  we 
think,  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  great  ideas  of  the  nineteenth  century.  It  is  5 
■traight,  hollow,  rectangular  tube.  The  Britannia  bridge  is  the  grandest 
specimen  j  for  its  longest  span  or  reach,  between  supports,  is  469  feet.  But 
long  as  it  is,  it  was  lifted  in  one  piece  100  feet  high,  to  its  present  postion^ 
The  Victoria  bridge  has  no  span  of  equal  length,  nor  was  it  elevated  in  the 
game  way. 

The  suspension,  in  its  crude  forms,  is  of  ancient  date.  It  is  found  in  all 
lands,  but  until  later  years  it  has  never  received  the  indorsement  of  engineers 
as  the  reliable  support  of  railway  trains;  and  in  this  respect  it  can  hardly  be 
■aid  to  4iave  thoroughly  disarmed  sound  criticism,  when  we  claim  we  are  build- 
ing something  that  is  truly  permanent.  It  possesses  some  qualities  that  will 
always  render  it  populai*.  It  can  be  constructed  more  easily  in  many  positions, 
A  much  greater  span  can  be  obtained  than  by  any  other  known  method,  and 
the  cost  is  comparatively  less.  Perhaps  this  last  feature  can  be  understood 
when  we  remember  that  the  Niagara  bridge,  with  a  span  of  S21  feet,  was  built 
for  less  than  the  yearly  interest  on  the  sum  expended  on  the  Britannia  bridge. 
Its  general  construction  is  well  known.  In  Europe,  the  prominent  specimens 
are  the  Menai,  by  Telford,  with  a  span  of  530  feet,  and  the  Freyburg,  in  Switzer- 
land, with  a  span  of  870  feet.  In  this  country,  Ellet  and  Roebling  have  identi- 
fied themselves  with  the  Wheeling,  Niagara,  Cincinnati,  and  other  bridges. 
Ellet  constructed  the  "Wheeling  bridge,  1,000   feet  span,  which  failed  to  with- 


120  ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE   GREAT    CITY. 

stand  the  winds  ;  yet  Mr.  Eliot  was  a  great  man.  Mr.  Eoebling  may  be 
regarded  as  the  great  exponent  of  the  suspension  bridge  in  this  country.  His 
reputation  may  well  be  envied ;  for  while  the  great  engineers  of  Europe  were 
declaring  it  was  impossible,  he  went  on  with  the  Niagara  bridge ;  and  now, 
after  eighteen  years'  successful  usage,  it  has  caused  the  engineers  of  the  old 
world  to  reverse  their  theories. 

He  built  the  Cincinnati  bridge,  and  if,  in  future  times,  the  suspension  shall 
have  become  recognized  as  a  thoroughly  safe,  permanent  structure  for  railway 
trains,  to  Mr.  Roebling,  more  than  any  other,  will  the  credit  belong. 

The  lattice  bridge  has  been  and  is  now  a  very  popular  type  of  bridge.  The 
name  will  readily  convey  a  correct  impression  of  its  general  construction.  In 
some  respects  it  is  preferable  to  the  tubular.  It  is  less  costly  and  is  less  rigid, 
which  som.e  claim  to  be  an  advantage.  As  fine  a  specimen  of  this  kind,  per- 
haps, as  can  be  seen  anywhere,  is  at  Cologne,  over  the  Ehine.  Its  longest 
reach  is  330  feet.     It  is,  however,  liable  to  oscillation. 

But  yielding  everything  to  the  suspension  and  the  lattice  that  can  with  reason 
be  claimed  for  them,  it  is  questionable  whether  they  possess  the  elements  of 
perpetuity  equally  with  the  arch.  We  know  arch  bridges  have  endured  for 
centuries ;  we  do  not  yet  know  how  long  a  railway  suspension,  tubular,  or 
lattice  bridge  will  continue. 

The  first  cast-iron  arch  bridge  was  built  in  1779,  with  a  span  of  100  feet. 
Many  other  iron  arch  bridges  have  been  successfully  constructed.  They  have 
always  been  highly  esteemed  for  their  strength  and  durability.  The  great 
drawback,  perhaps,  has  been  an  inability  to  construct  them  with  a  span  so 
wide  as  to  compare  favorably  with  those  of  other  styles.  In  England,  the 
largest  is  the  Southwark,  with  a  span  of  240  feet  and  a  rise  of  24  feet.  Note 
this  fact,  and  remember  the  length  of  the  Britannia,  459  feet,  and  the  length  of 
the  Cologne,  330  feet,  and  then  the  importance  of  the  St.  Louis  bridge,  with  its 
span  of  520  feet,  will  appear. 

Its  form  is  as  enduring  as  any  tested  by  the  experience  of  ages.  Its  size 
surpasses  that  of  any,  when  we  consider  the  true  comparison,  the  length  of 
span.  Its  material,  cast-steel,  is  the  best  in  the  world,  ranking  with  wrought- 
iron  in  the  ratio  of  two  to  one. 

The  importance  of  the  St.  Louis  bridge  is  still  further  increased  when  we 
consider  its  foundations,  their  depth,  their  mode  of  construction,  and  the 
attendant  difficulties. 

Other  engineers  of  great  eminence  have  proposed  the  erection  of  bridges  of 
greater  span  than  this,  but  it  rarely  occurs  that  the  location  and  conditions 
of  the  case  justify,  as  in  this  one,  such  bold  grasp  of  mind  on  the  part  of  the 
engineer,  with  the  no  less  accompaniment  of  a  proper  manifestation  of  public 
spirit  on  the  part  of  capitalists  to  carry  out  his  design. 

Mr.  Latrobe,  a  noted  engineer  of  Baltimore,  has  expressed  his  opinion  upon 
the  construction  of  a  bridge  at  St.  Louis.  He  favored  the  use  of  piers  higher 
than  those  of  the  present  plan,  requiring  a  stationary  engine  to  draw  the  cars 
from  either  side  to  the  center  in  passing  over.  He  also  advocated  the  use  of 
spans  400  and  500  feet  in  length. 


ST.    LOUIS,    TUIi   Fl  TLUH    (iRlUT    CITY.  121 

Tiiat  modem  cni^ineorH  aro  untlcipatini^  riomcthing  altoi^ctlicr  superior  to  tli6 
past  achiovcments,  the  rollo\vin«;  remurkw  of  Mr.  Itoobliiiij  aro  ovi.lonco. 
llo  says  : 

"It  was  left  to  inolcM-n  eiigiiioerini;,  by  tlio  application  of  tho  principle 
of  susponsion,  and  by  tho  uso  of  \vroui;bt-iron,  to  solve  the  problem  of  span- 
ning largo  rivers  without  intermediate  Hupports.  Cast  and  wrought-iron 
arches,  of  100  foot  and  more,  have  been  quite  successful.  Nor  can  it  bo  said 
the  limit  of  arching  has  been  reached.  Timber  arches  of  much  greater  span 
have  stood  for  years,  and  have  rendered  good  service  in  this  country  as  well  as 
on  the  continent  of  Europe.  It  is  worthy  of  notice,  however,  and  to  bo  cited 
as  a  curious  professional  circuinstanco,  that  the  best  form  of  material,  so  pro- 
fusely- applied  by  nature  in  her  elaborate  constructions,  has  never  been  used  in 
arching,  although  proposed  on  several  occasions.  This  form  is  unquestionably 
tho  cylindrical,  combined  in  small  sections,  as  is  illusi rated  by  vegetable  and 
animal  structures.  Where  strength  is  to  be  combined  with  lightness  and  elo- 
ganco,  nature  never  wastes  heavy,  cumbrous  masses.  The  architects  of  tho 
middle  ages  fully  illustrated  this  by  their  beautiful  buttresses  and  flying 
arches,  conibinations  of  strength  and  stability,  executed  with  tho  \cAnt  amount 
of  material. 

"  Tho  wrought-iron  pipe,  now  manufactured  of  all  sizes  and  in  sucli  groat 
perfection,  offers  to  tho  engineer  a  material  for  arching  which  cuniiot  bo 
excelled.  A  wire  cable,  composed  of  an  assemblage  of  wires,  constitutes  the 
best  catenary  arch  for  tho  susponsion  of  great  weights ;  and,  as  a  parallel  to 
this,  if  the  catenary  is  reversed,  tho  best  upright  arch  for  the  support  of  a 
bridge  may  bo  formed  bj'  an  assemblage  of  wrought-iron  pipes,  of  one  and  a  half 
or  two  inches  diameter  or  more.  Arches  of  1,000  feet  span  and  more  may  bo 
rendered  practicable  and  safe  upon  this  system.  I  venture  to  jjrodict  that  tho 
two  great  rival  S3-stems  of  future  bridge  engineering  will  be  the  inverted  and 
upright  arch — the  former  made  of  wire,  and  the  latter  of  pipe,  both  Bystem* 
rendered  stable  by  tho  assistance  of  lattice  work,  or  by  stays,  trusses,  and 
girders." 

It  has  already  been  stated  that  the  bridge  to  be  built  at  St.  Louis  !■<  to  bo 
made  of  cast-steel ;  and  in  tho  meantime,  extensive  experiments  have  been 
going  on  to  thoroughly  test  tho  strength  of  tho  metal,  and  no  possible  precaution 
will  bo  neglected  or  effort  omitted  to  make  this  bridge  a  complete  and  perfect 
Buccess.  Although  not  so  great  in  length  as  tho  Victoria  bridge  over  the  St. 
Lawrence,  which  is  nearly  two  miles  long,  nor  tho  bridge  over  tho  Nebadda,  in 
India,  which  is  one  and  a  half  miles  long,  nor  the  bridge  from  Jiassoin  to  tho 
main  land,  which  is  over  three  miles  long,  yet  its  magnificent  spans  and  stately 
piers  place  it  far  above  those  bridges  in  character  and  structure.  And  when 
once  built  it  will  bo  grander  than  tho  Colossus  at  Khodcs,  grander  than  tho 
Pharos  at  Alexandria.  It  will  vitalize  the  commerce  of  the  Mississippi  Vallc}', 
and  unite  the  great  railway  chains  between  Now  York  and  San  Francisco,  tho 
Lakes  and  the  Gulf.  When  completed,  it  will  place  tho  name  of  its  builder, 
Capt.  James  B.  Eads,  with  those  of  Telford,  Smeaton,  Stephenson,  and  other 


122  ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE    GREAT    CITY. 

distingaishod  cngiiiccrs  of  the  world.  Mr.  Ends  already  btands  prominent  as 
one  of  the  most  enterprising  and  piiblic-Bpirited  citizens  of  St.  Louis ;  and 
should  this  bridge  enterprise,  in  which  he  is  more  prominent  than  any  other, 
prove  successful,  his  character  and  reputation  will  become  the  public  property 
of  the  country,  even  as  the  bridge  itself  Avill  be.  Almost  proverbial  for  the 
invariable  success  attending  everything  he  undertakes,  and  with  a  world-wide 
reputation  for  practical  ingenuity  and  indomitable  energy,  we  hail  his  promi- 
nent identification  with  this  work  as  an  assurance  of  its  successful  completion. 
To  him,  and  to  the  enlightened,  public-spirited  citizens  who  have  pledged  their 
capital  and  influence  to  sustain  the  enterprise,  will  justly  belong  the  glory  that 
will  surely  attach  to  tho  St.  Louis  Bridge. 

r 


PROPOSED    UNION   DEPOT 


Cotemporaneous  with  the  completion  of  tho  great  bridge  will  bo  the 
necessity  for  a  grand  Union  Passenger  Depot  in  St.  Louis,  where  all  the 
railroads  leading  into  the  city  could  receive,  deposit,  and  exchange  their 
passengci^s  with  comfort  and  convenience  to  tho  traveling  public  as  Avell  as 
with  economy  and  dispatch  to  the  different  railroad  companies.  Every  day 
the  need  of  such  a  building  is  more  and  more  apparent  to  the  leading  railroad 
interests  and  the  community-,  as  the  bridge  now  constructing  approaches  its 
completion. 

Acting,  therefore,  at  the  suggestion  of  some  of  tho  most  prominent  and 
controlling  representatives  of  the  railroads  leading  into  this  city,  and  at  their 
request,  tho  Executive  Committee  of  the  Bridge  Company  have  selected  a  site 
snd  prepared  plans  for  a  proposed  structure,  which,  through  their  chairmanj 
William  Taussig,  Esq.,  they  have  already  submitted  to  railroad  companies  and 
the  public. 

After  examining  the  whole  line  of  the  tunnel,  from  the  end  of  the  bridge  to 
its  terminus  near  tho  Pacific  Eailroad  track,  with  a  view  to  a  gi\and  Central 
Depot,  tho  site  has  been  selected,  convenient  for  all  tho  railroads,  and  central  to 
the  business  of  the  bridge. 

The  buildings  have  been  devised  with  a  view  to  furnishing  all  tho  necessary 
office  rooms  for  the  different  railroad  companies,  and  their  necessary  adjuncts, 
express  and  fast  fi-eight  lines,  telegraph,  &e.,  &c.,  thus  combining  everything  to 
secure  the  prompt  dispatch  of  business,  and  offer  all  possible  inducements  to 
trade  and  traffic. 

Tho  business  of  the  railroads  will  require  at  least  twelve  tracks  under  the 
streets  and  in  the  depot.  The  offices  for  the  different  railroad,  including 
express  and  freight  companies,  can  bo  accommodated  above  tho  track,  and 
communicate  with  it  by  flights  of  steps  and  by  elevators. 


ST.    LOUlrf,    TUL   ILTUKIj   GKEAT   CITY.  123 

DESCRIPTION    OF   DKI'OT    BLILDINGS    AND    XKAUKb. 

The  depot  buildings  will  occupy  the  three  blocks  from  Fifth  to  Eigiith  street, 
betwoeu  Washington  avonuo  and  Green  street. 

The  "  tracU-floor,"  which  will  be  20  feet  below  the  level  of  the  Ktrects,  will 
be  297  feet  wide,  and  in  length  extending  from  Fifth  to  Eighth  street,  with  the 
necessary  space  oast  of  Fifth  street  and  west  of  Eighth  street  to  enter  the 
luiinel  at  either  end. 

There  will  be  ton  tracks  between  Washington  avenue  and  Green  street,  and 
four  traeks  under  "Washington  avenue.  There  well  bo  «ix  platforms  from  20 
U)  24  feet  wide,  with  broad  stairs  from  the  platforms  to  tho  waiting-rooms 
al'ove. 

The  ten  tracks  under  tho  three  blocks  will  bo  inclosed  by  arched  walls  three 
feet  thick,  and  heavy  retaining  walls  on  the  south  side  of  Washington  avenue, 
and  under  tho  curb  of  tho  southern  sidewalk  on  Green  street. 

The  streets — namely,  Washington  avenue.  Sixth  and  Seventh  streets — will  be 
supported  on  iron  columns,  girders,  and  joists,  and  covered  with  NicholsoD 
pavement. 

Tho  interior  wulls  of  tho  building  will  b.c  Bup[)ortcd  on  iron  columns  and 
i^irders. 

Tho  entire  three  blocks  will  be  covered  with  buildings,  the  exterior  walls  of 
which  Avill  bo  built  of  cast-iron,  and  tho  interior  walls  of  brick. 

Tho  group  of  buildings  covering  the  block  from  Fifth  to  Sixth  street  will  bo 
four  stories  high,  with  French  roof  above;  in  tho  first  story,  and  in  the  west 
end  of  tho  block,  six  baggage  rooms  for  tho  railroads,  with  elevators  for 
baggage  from  tho  platforms  below,  and  track  to  distribute  baggage  from  room 
to  room. 

On  the  lower  story  of  this  building  will  be  the  oflieo,  reading-room,  billiard 
and  bar  room,  table-d'hote,  barber  shop,  wash  room,  &c.,  &c,,  of  tho  hotel, 
'fliero  will  bo  an  open  court  in  the  interior  of  this  building,  which  will  bo 
tMitercd  from  Sixth  street,  with  a  largo  light-shaft  in  the  same  to  track-floor 
below,  also  an  entrance  on  Fifth  street. 

Tho  third  and  fourth  stories  of  tho  building  to  bo  appropriated  to  guests' 
rooms,  and  the  fifth  story,  or  French  roof,  to  tho  kitchen,  laundry,  and  general 
stores,  boilers,  machinery,  and  the  general  Avorking  departments  of  tho  hotel. 
This  filth  etory  to  bo  reached  by  four  large  elevators  :  one  to  servo  the  ordinary 
on  second  floor,  and  table-d'hoto  on  first  floor;  one  for  passengers,  and  one  for 
baggage;  and  ono  for  general  use,  elevating  of  stores,  fuel,  &c.  On  tho  first 
floor,  in  Green  street,  will  be  a  yard  in  connection  with  tho  elevator  for  tho 
reception  of  stores,  fuel,  &c.  Also  in  tho  yard  will  bo  contained  the  receptacle 
lor  tho  kitchen  refuse,  &c.,  convoyed  from  thence  by  largo  iron  pipes.  Tho 
water  and  soil  froni  laundry,  &c.,  to  be  conveyed  to  sewers  beneath  the  traek- 
floor. 

In  the  first  story  of  the  block  between  Sixth  and  Seventh  streets  will  bo  the 
ladies'  and  gentlemen's  waiting-rooms,  ticket  and  telegraph  oflices,  with  stairs 
from   the    waiting-rooms  to  the  tn»eks  below.     These  waiting-rooraB  will    be 


124  ST.    LOUIS,    TUE   FUTURE   GREAT    CITY. 

provided  with  ample  accommodations  for  washing,  &c.,  and  with  stairs  from 
the  eastern  ladies'  waiting-room  to  the  hotel  above. 

There  will  be  room  for  seven  large  offices  on  Washington  avenue,  and  seven 
on  Green  street  —  eight  of  them  23  by  4G  feet;  two,  30  by  40  feet;  two,  35  by 
46,  and  two  18  by  46  feet. 

In  the  first  story,  from  Seventh  to  Eighth  street,  there  will  bo  fourteen 
oflSces  on  Washington  avenue  and  Green  street :  twelve,  23  by  46  feet,  and  two 
18  by  40  feet.  On  Eighth  street,  Washington  avenue,  and  Green  street,  there 
will  bo  three  large  express  offices.  Those  on  Washington  avenue  and  Green 
street  will  be  113  by  46  feet,  and  that  on  Eighth  street  132  by  45  feet. 

The  express  offices  will  be  furnished  with  every  convenience,  as  elevators  for 
raising  and  lowering  goods  from  platforms  on  track-floor  below. 

Ih  the  second,  third,  and  fourth  stories  of  these  buildings  will  be  330  large 
and  commodious  offices  and  rooms,  independent  of  those  designed  for  guests' 
rooms  in  the  hotel.  These  rooms  will  bo  furnished  with  all  modern  conve- 
niences, and  will  be  accessible  by  commodious  stairs  at  proper  intervals,  and 
have  communication  to  same  from  balconies  around  the  court,  over  track- 
floors. 

The  whoto  space  between  the  buildings  on  Washington  avenue  and  Green 
street,  from  the  east  side  of  Sixth  street  to  the  rear  of  buildings  on  Eighth 
street,  will  bo  covered  by  a  dome-shaped  glats  roof,  and  will  be  700  feet  long 
by  135  feet  wide. 

The  track-floor,  besides  being  lighted  by  the  glass  roof,  will  be  illuminated 
from  the  sidewalk,  by  Hyatt's  patent  lights,  all  around  the  building. 

It  is  proposed  to  make  the  building  practical!}'  fire-proof,  by  the  substitution 
of  iron  for  beams,  girders,  joists,  partitions,  etc. 

The  general  stj^le  of  the  exterior  will  be  Franco-Italian,  and,  being  of  iron, 
will  necessarily  be  ornate. 

RAILROADS. 

The  following  roads  will  use  the  Passenger  Depot — all  of  them,  except  those 
marked  *,  having  their  lines  now  running  into  the  city  : 

1.  The  Missouri  Pacific. 

2.  The  North  Missouri. 

a.  The  St.  Louis,  Council  Bluffs  and  Omaha  ;* 

b.  The  St.  Louis  and  Keokuk  j*  both  coming  in  on  the  North  Misaottri 

Eailroad  track. 

3.  The  South  Pacific. 

4.  The  Iron  Mountain. 

5.  The  St.  Louis  and  Indianapolis. 

6.  The  St.  Louis,  Yandalia  and  Terre  Haute. 

7.  The  St.  Louis  and  Chicago. 

8.  The  Ohio  and  Mississippi. 

9.  The  Decatur  and  East  St.  Louis. 

10.  The  Rockford,  Eock  Island  and  St.  Louis. 

11.  The  St.  Louis  and  Bollcvillo,  and  its  Eastern  connections. 

12.  The  St.  Louis  and  South-Eastern. 


ST.    LOUIS,    TUB  FUTURE   GREAT    CITY.  125 

It  is  proposed  to  uso  smoke-consuming  engines  for  the  purpose  of  Lringinj; 
trains  into  and  out  of  tho  tunnel  and  depot.  B}-  deadening  the  Udova  and 
operating  the  trains  with  signals,  no  noiso  will  be  created,  and  tho  occupant* 
and  gue.sts  above  will  suffer  no  inconvenience  from  that  cause. 

This  is  a  gigantic  scheme  involving  a  largo  expenditure,  but  it  is  more  com- 
prehensive in  its  objects,  more  thorough  in  its  arrangements,  and  will  command 
greater  ('upabilitics  than  any  passenger  depot  ever  before  devised ;  and  now  ii* 
the  titting  time  for  all  tho  important  interests  concerned  to  secure  its  manifold 
advantages. 

Before  tho  buildings  included  in  the  design  can  be  finished,  the  bridge  acrosn 
the  Mis.sissippi,  opposite  Washington  avenue,  will  be  completed,  and  tho  twelve 
railroads  enumerated  will  be  pouring  into  tho  cit}'  a  vast  amount  of  trado  and 
travel,  which  will  require  corresponding  facilities  for  their  proper  accommoda- 
tion. 

From  the  opening  of  tho  bridge  will  date  the  most  rapid  growth  of  railroad 
business  consequent  upon  tho  continuity  of  the  tracks  across  the  river,  and  the 
disappearance  forever  of  all  the  annoyances  and  expenses  of  ferrying,  which 
are  now  unavoidable.  At  all  hours  of  tho  day  and  night  trains  will  then  arrive 
and  depart  from  tho  Union  Passenger  Depot,  in  every  direction,  without 
impediment,  with  perfect  convenience  to  tho  traveling  public.  St.  Louis  will 
then  at  once  take  rank  in  public  estimation  as  the  most  attractive  railroad  city 
of  the  interior. 

Ko  railroad  now  constructed,  or  that  may  hereafter  bo  constructed,  acrosn 
the  continent  can  fail  to  contribute  its  share  of  trado  and  travel  to  this  point. 

A  city  thus  situated,  which  in  fifteen  years,  with  its  railroad  system  yet  in 
its  infancy,  has  grown  from  a  population  of  80,000  to  more  than  300,000,  may 
with  certainty  anticipate  a  further  rapid  augmentation  of  population  and 
business,  demanding  extraordinary  efforts  on  tho  part  of  her  enterprising 
citizens.  St.  Louis  will  soon  be  one  of  the  largest,  if  not  the  largest,  iron  and 
steel  manufacturing  points  in  tho  United  States,  which  will  add  immensely 
both  to  the  river  and  railroad  traffic,  and  demand  greater  facilities  fur  its 
fomnieroial  exchange.  Id  fact,  the  entire  business  interests  of  the  city 
demand  a  great  Union  Depot  as  an  adjunct  or  complete  provision  for  the 
business  of  tho  bridge. 


126  ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTURE   GREAT    CITY. 


CLOSING    EGOTISM 


In  submitting  this  pamphlet  to  the  public,  I  take  tliis  opportunity  of  record- 
ing a  personal  word,  which  I  design  more  particularly  to  be  read  by  my  fellow- 
oitizens  of  St.  Louis. 

It  is  well  known  to  many  of  you  that  during  the  past  three  years  I  havO;  in 
an  humble  but  earnest  way,  advocated  the  'development  of  the  material 
interests  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  and  of  St.  Louis,  and,  as  I  believe,  in  perfect 
justice  to  every  part  of  my  country. 

In  the  prosecution  of  my  work  I  have  given  to  the  public,  including  this  one, 
five  pamphlets,  containing  arguments  and  statistics  in  vindication  of  the  causes 
for  which  I  have  labored ;  and  whether  I  have  done  much  or  little,  I  have  had 
no  personal  interest  to  serve  beyond  the  ordinary  wants  of  a  man,  no  ambition 
to  satisfy,  no  pecuniary  gain  which  I  expected  to  realize.  "  I  have  no  wife  nor 
children,  good  or  bad,  to  provide  for — a  mere  spectator  of  other  men's 
fortunes  and  adventures,  and  how  they  play  their  parts,  which,  methinks,  are 
diversely-  presented  unto  me,  as  from  a  common  theater  or  scene." 

Born  and  reared  in  the  Yalley  of  the  Mississippi,  and  in  a  country  and 
government,  in  extent  and  kind,  unequaled  in  the  history  of  mankind,  and 
sharing  a  little  of  that  human  nature  which  is  instinctively  and  keenly  alive,  to 
Qvevy  step  toward  individual  and  national  greatness,  has  been  the  motive  by 
which,  with  a  tenacious  zeal,  I  have  been  actuated  in  ray  efforts.  Nor  does  time 
lessen  the  incentive  for  continued  work.  The  material  growth  marked  by  each 
succeeding  year  upon  the  broad  and  bounding  progress  ot  the  countiy,  tends 
to  increase  rather  than  to  lessen  a  zealous  effort  to  accomplish  the  highest 
triumphs  and  rewards  of  industry  possible  to  the  American  people.  Yet 
my  work  is  done  in  this  distinctive  field  of  labor. 

Therefore,  in  presenting  this  pamphlet,  which  I  hope  will  be  road  with 
some  interest  by  this  people,  I  submit  it  as  the  last  I  shall  prepare  and  publish 
upon  the  material  interests  of  the  country  and  St.  Louis.  Notwithstanding  our 
present  census  will  reveal  an  array  of  new  facts  infinitely  greater  than  thoso 
with  which  I  have  had  to  deal,  others,  with  more  gifted  pens,  will  turn  the  new 
facts  to  the  best  account  for  our  national  progress.  There  is  a  higher  field  of 
work  than  that  which  the  material  plane  affords ;  and  though  I  shall  not  ceaso 
to  do  all  that  I  can  in  assisting  to  remove  the  National  Capital  to  the  Mississippi 
Valley,  I  shall  in  the  meantime  look  forward  to  a  new  and  broader  field  of 
action  wherein  the  great  problems  of  the  world  are  to  be  solved,  and  man's 
highest  life  on  earth  attained. 


ST.    LOUIS,    TUt:   FUTUUE   (JllEAT    CITY.  127 

"  What  profit  hath  a  laan  if  ho  i^ains  the  whole  worhJ  ami  loses  hi«  own 
soul ?" 

The  National  (^'apital  will  be  a  poor  achievoment  to  the  people  of  the  j^roat 
Valley  States,  unless  protected  by  one  Constitution,  ovor-arching  one  eonti- 
Jiontal  Republic,  under  whose  power  at»(l  proterrtion  nlI(•(•.>,^(|i,lg  general ifni-*  'it 
men  will  pass  on  in  universal  relationship,  as 

Nations  stop  into  rank 

At  Time's  loud  hw^hi  sound. 

[ts  removal  is  no  more  a  question  of  stato-<manshi|)  tlian  is  the  necessity  of 
cultivating  in  the  hearts  of  the  [)eoplo  an  abiding  faith  and  devotion  for  the 
union  of  these  States. 

To  save  the  Ilepublio  of  our  fathers  in  all  its  parts — to  purify  and  perfect  it 
b}'  the  struggles  through  which  it  passes — to  make  it  wiser  and  bettor — to  give 
it  a  grander  and  loftier  mission  among  the  nations  of  the  earth,  and  to  per- 
petuate its  c-xisteneo  to  the  remotest  time,  is  the  chief  end  of  this  and  future 
generations.  And,  in  so  declaring,  I  have  an  abiding  faith  in  the  future — a 
future  which  will  most  surely  bring  a  just  and  bcuntiful  rewai'd  to  the  earnest, 
the  industrious,  the  frugal  and  righteous  millions  of  the  generations  yet  to 
come,  a  complete  triumph  of  the  human  race  in  its  efforts  to  solve  the  great 
problems  of  the  world,  a  moral  and  intellectual  development  of  our  people 
commensurate  with  the  material  growth  of  the  countr}-. 

"Wo  walk  tlio  wIMtTnoss  t^>-ilny, 
The  Promised  Land  to-niorrow." 

The  conception  of  the  future  great  city  would  bo  a  vagary  if  wo  fail  to 
maintain  one  government  and  one  law  all  over  this  land  wo  lovo  so  well.  It 
is  the  future  hope  of  the  world,  and  let  us  bo  of  that  faith,  that  "  no  other 
government  can  exist  here."  "I  am  confident  that  this  Union  of  our  fathers — 
a  union  of  intelligence,  of  freedom,  of  justice,  of  industry,  of  religion,  ot 
science  and  art,"  will  through  succeeding  generations  of  men  grow  stronger 
and  stronger  as  time  moves  on.  "This  Union  has  not  yet  accomplished  what 
good  for  mankind  was  manifestly  designed  by  Him  who  appoints  the  seasons, 
and  proscribes  the  duties  of  States  and  Kmi)ires.  Woe:  woo!  to  him  that 
madly  lifts  his  hand  against  it." 

There  are  still  other  duties  equally  binding  upon  all  whose  power  it  is  to  do; 
thoro  is  a  royal  commission  for  all  to  fill.  Poverty  still  stalks  abroad;  igno- 
rance still  depraves;  vice  still  brutalizes,  and  crime  still  entails  its  miseries. 
There  is  work  yet  to  be  done,  rules  yet  to  bo  prescribed,  wants  to  bo  satisfied, 
and  wisdom  to  be  supplied,  and  "wdioso  does  it  to  the  least  of  these,  docs  it 
also  unto  me." 

Then  let  us  hail  the  present  wonderful  growth  of  our  country  and  her  cities 
as  a  bright  heraldry  of  a  more  glorious  future,  and  hope  for  tho  royal  rule  of 
righteousness. 


128  ST.    LOUIS,    THE   FUTUllE    GREAT    CITY. 

In  presenting  this  pamphlet  to  the  public,  as  an  argument  in  favor  of  an 
organized  hope  of  the  race  of  man  as  being  inherent  in  the  preconceived  future 
great  city  of  the  world,  I  have  the  full  assurance  that  copies  of  it  will  pass  into 
our  librai'iea,  and  be  read  by  inquisitive  and  earnest  minds  of  other  genera- 
tions, long  after  we  of  this  generation  shall  have  passed  on  through  the  gates 
of  the  eternal  world,  to  take  our  places 

""With  patriarchs  and  prophets,  and  the  blest, 
Gone  np  from  every  land  to  people  heaven." 

In  testimony  whereof  I  have  spoken,  and  of  |having  been  faithful  to  ray 
work,  I  offer  the  following  from  the  Missouri  Democrat,  as  one  of  many 
witnesses : 

"Our  hearts  ought  all  to  warm  to  this  patient,,  hard-working,  unselfish  man, 
who  accomplishes  more  than  the  most  of  us  for  the  community  about  him,  and 
looks  for  and  reaps  a  more  slender  reward  than  fiills  to  the  lot  of  many  who 
never  lift  a  finger  for  their  fellows." 

As  for  me,  I  see  no  path  of  ambition  marked  out  over  the  slain  of  my 
countrymen,  nor  can  I  hail  with  delight  a  land  rent  with  feuds  and  despoiled 
by  political  factions.  I  can  only  pray  for  the  great  Eopublic  to  be  a  sublime 
achievement,  "  over  which  humanity  will  eternally  shod  its  blessings  and  God 
His  benedictions." 

L.  U.  EEAVIS. 
Sr.  Louis,  November  1,  1870. 


APPENDIX. 


Since  the  body  of  this  book  went  to  press,  many  important  facts  relating  to 
the  growth  and  prowperity  of  St.  Louis  have  been  collected,  and  it  lias  been 
thought  worth  while  to  give  some  of  thorn  brief  mention  in  an  appendix.  It 
is  usoles.s  to  stereotype  a  doscriptijon  of  St.  Louis,  for  a  few  weeks  or  months 
will  render  it  necessary  to  revise  the  text  or  eke  it  out  with  pages  of  addenda. 

The  domestic  trade  of  the  city  for  1870  has  been  far  in  advant'O  of  any 
preceding  3'ear.  The  item  of  wheat  is  not  a  fair  example,  because  it  falls  far 
below  the  increase  of  other  articles  ;  but  as  the  statistics  for  wheat,  and  flour 
reduced  to  wheat,  arc  known  up  to  the  last  week  in  December,  this  item  id 
selected  to  show  that  our  city  is  making  "no  backward  steps." 

The  following  table  exhibits  the  receipts  of  wheat,  and  flour  reduced  to 
wheat,  during  the  last  six  years  : 

BuEhels 

1870 2:5,115,0-2i  .. 

18G9 20,170, 4-JJ  ri^ 

18G8 15,444,731 

18G7 17,848,755 

18GC, 22,070,072 

18G5 17,057,252 

Inquiries  amongst  leading  merchants  lead  to  the  conclusion  that  the  domestic 
trade  of  St.  Louis  for  1870  is  largely  in  advance  of  that  of  any  preceding  year. 

Our  import  trade,  as  exhibited  b}'  the  statistics  of  the  Custom  House,  indi- 
cates a  similar  increase  in  the  commercial  operation.^  of  the  city.  The 
augmentation  of  banking  capital,  and  of  loans  and  deposits,  shows  plainly  the 
same  general  fact.  The  amount  of  duties  paid  on  imported  merchan<lisc  at 
the  St.  Louis  Custom  House  for  1870  will  vary  but  slightly,  more  or  less,  from 
$2,000,000.    HUy^-^x'^I-  i-'-^^' 

MANUFACTURES    OF    ST.    LOUIS. 

The  industrial  interests  of  St.  Louis  have  received  a  grand  impulse  during 
the  past  year,  and  the  general  result  shows  a  largo  increase  over  any  preoetling 
year.  The  following  statement  will  show  the  advanfomont  of  St.  Louis,  as  a 
manufacturing  city,  during  the  last  ten  years  : 

Capital  invested  in  manufactures  in  18G0 $12,7M,04«<< 

in  1870 48,387,150 

Making  a  dear  {rain  of  284  per  cont.  in  tin  wars,  or  21  4-10  per  oont.  per  annum. 

The  vahio  of  raw  material  used  in  18G0  was K..212.rt90 

•'      in  1870  was 0.^427,509 

Making  a  gain  of  2G9  per  cent,  in  ten  years,  qr  2G  9-10  per  cent,  per  oiumni. 

The  value  of  products  in  18G0  wa-x 27.GI0.07e 

in  1870  was 109,.'il3,960 

A  gain  of  20C  per  cent,  in  ten  yea:s,  or  29  G-10  per  cent,  per  annum. 


130  APPENDIX. 


IRON   MANUrACTURE. 

While  the  increase  in  every  department  of  manufacturing  enterprise  has 
been  steady  and  healthful,  the  various  iron  furnaces  and  iron  works  of  different 
kinds  have  shown  a  wonderful  augmentation  in  the  capital  en^ployod^  the 
number  of  operatives,  and  the  value  of  the  products.  A  few  years,  at  our 
present  rate  of  advancement,  will  realize  the  prediction  of  the  distinguished 
Pennsylvania  iron-master,  that  St.  Louis  is  destined  to  become  the  great  iron 
center  of  the  American  continent.  « 

To  illustrate  the  manner  in  which  the  iron  business  of  St.  Louis  is  pro- 
gressing, we  may  with  propriety  refer  to  a  grand  enterprise  that  has  been 
inaugurated  since  the  body  of  this  book  was  put  in  type.  The  "  Vulcan  Iron 
Works,"  established  by  a  company  with  two  millions  of  capital,  and  Avith 
D.  E.  Garrison,  Esq.,  as  President,  will  be  one  of  the  largest  establishments  of 
the  kind  in  America.  One  of  the  buildings  will  be  485x87  feet ;  one  about  200x87, 
with  an  L  about  190x87  feet.  The  buildings  are  being  constructed  of  brick, 
with  slate  roofs,  and  their  foundations  on  the  bod-rock.  The  capacity  of  the 
furnaces  will  be  90  to  100  tons  of  pig-iron  per  day,  while  the  rail  mill  will  bo 
able  to  turn  out  from  175  to  180  tons  of  railroad  iron  every  twenty-four  hours. 
At  the  present  value  of  iron  rails  ($83  per  ton),  the  annual  product  of  this  rail 
establishment  Avill  be  nearly  or  quite  $4,000,000 — a  larger  amount  than  is 
produced  by  any  single  mill  in  the  United  States.  The  mill  will  employ  350 
hands,  and  the  furnaces  nearly  100  more,  and  most  of  them  will  be  men  with 
families. 

In  connection  with  this  general  subject  of  manufactures,  it  is  proper  to  state 
hero  that  we  learn  from  reliable  sources  that  nearly  ten  millions  of  capital 
from  the  East  will  be  invested  in  the  mechanical  industries  of  St.  Louis  within 
the  next  twelve  months. 

EDUCATION. 

The  public  school  system  of  St.  Louis  will  compare  favorably  with  that  of 
any  city  in  the  world.  Amongst  the  finest  structures  in  the  city  are  the  now 
school-houses  erected  to  meet  the  universal  demand  for  "more  light."  St. 
Louis  has  now  forty-nine  public  school-houses,  some  of  them  with  a  capacity 
to  accommodate  nearly  ono  thousand  pupils,  and  all  of  them,  with  their  little 
army  of  nearly  five  hundred  teachers,  give  instruction  now  to  about  25,000 
pupils.  In  addition  to  these  educational  facilities,  which  offer  to  every  child  of 
the  city  a  good  English  education  almost "  without  money  and  without  price," 
there  are,  including  universities,  colleges,  seminaries,  private  and  parochial 
schools,  sixty  other  institutions  of  learning  within  the  city,  and  about  40,000 
pupils  and  students  of  different  grades  are  being  educated  in  tho  public  and 
private  schools  of  tho  city. 

Income  during  tho  last  fiscal  year  for  support  of  public  schools,  $624,000, 
of  which  §522j000  was  raised  by  taxation  and  S112,000  derived  from  public 
funds. 


APPENDIX.  131 


cnuRcnEs. 


As  regards  churches,  there  were  found  to  bo  2G  Catholic,  18  Lutheran,  10 
Methodist,  13  Baptist,  1:{  Presbj-tcrian,  9  Episcopal,  4  Congrogational,  3 
Ifobrew,  3  Christian,  2  Unitarian,  and  2  Swodonborgian.  The  Mormons  or 
Latter  Day  Saints  have  two  church  organizations,  but  no  church  edifice.  There 
is  also  one  organization  calling  itself  Spiritualists,  without  a  church  edifice. 
The  estimated  capacit}'  of  the  above  is  87,200.  Estimated  value,  $3,6.52,000. 
Sunday  Schools  in  the  city,  103. 

LIHRARIKS. 

>[ercanlile  Library 0:1,000  vols. 

Polytechnic   Library 121,700  vols. 

Academy  of  Science 3,000  vol,-". 

Law,  Court  nou>o 0,800  vols. 

Law,  Poh-tcclmic 000  vols. 

Law,  Washington  University 1,(KX)  vols, 

St.  Louis  Universitv 2l',000  vols. 

"Washington  University 1,500  vols. 

Circulating  Libraries DT.OOO  vols. 

Sabbath  Schools 2.">,000  vols. 

Other  Law  Libraries lo,000  vols. 

Total Io7,000  vols. 

BLILDINO    STATISTICS    FOR   1S70. 

The  buildings  erected  or  commenced  in  1870  number  1,330,  at  a  cost  of 
$0,027,100.  Most  of  these  structures  are  of  a  very  substantial  character,  built 
of  iron,  brick,  stone,  or  marble,  and  one  of  them  costing  upwards  of  $300,000, 
and  numbers  of  others  more  than  §50,000  each. 

LIST   OF    STEAMERS     AND     I5AR»iES     rLVINO    BETWEEN     ST.    LOUIS    AND    OTHER   PORTS 
DURING    1*^70,    WITH    THEIR    VALUE   AND    CARRVINQ   CAPACITY. 

Steamers,  209 ;  barges,  220 ;  total,  43S.  Value,  §0,844,200 ;  carrying  capacity, 
23<>,000  tons.  This  showing  of  St.  Louis  tonnage  is  largeh-  in  advance  of 
previous  years. 

RECEIPTS   OF   COAL. 

Tiio  receipts  of  coal  during  1870  were  23,031,475  bushels,  a  large  excess 
over  former  years,  and  showing  in  ilsclf  a  great  increase  in  the  mechanical 
industries  of  the  city. 

IJ  H  U  A  K  \      ij 


ijuNlVK.USlTV    <>K. 

GALIFUUNIA.. 


132 


APPENDIX. 


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o 

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IX 

5 

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APPENDIX. 


133 


POPULATION. 

Table  shoicing  the  Populaiion  of  the  States  of  the  Union,  as  givni  by  the  United  Statea 
Census  returns  for  ISGO  and  1870;  also  showinr/  the  pT  cent,  of  increase  each  State  has 
made  during  the  past  decade,  as  well  as  the  per  cent,  of  growth  for  each  intervening  year. 


STATES. 


€2  2  'S3 


c2  S 


ibb§ 


Alabama  (approximate) 

Arkansas  (estimated). 

California  "     -  

Coimecticut  (official) 

Delaware  "       

District  of  Columbia  (official).. 

Florida  (estimated) 

Georpjia  "         

Indiana  (approximate) 

Illinois  "  

Iowa  (estimated) 

Kansas       '•  

Kentucky  (approximate) 

Louisiana  (estimated) 

Maine  (approximate) 

Maryland  (csii mated) 

Mieiiiji^an  (official) 

Massachusetts  (oflicial) 

Minnesota  (estimated) 

Mississi]ipi         "  

Missouri  "  

Nebraska  "  

Nevada  (approximate) 

New  York  (estimated) 

North  Carolina     "        

New  Hampshire  (official) 

New  Jersey  (approximate) 

Ohio  (approxinwte) 

Oregon  (official) 

Pcnnsvlvania  (estimated) 

Rhode  Island  (official) 

South  Carolina  (estimated) 

Tennessee  (estimated) 

Vermont  (official) 

Virginia  (estimated) 

West  Virginia  (estimated) 

"Wisconsin  (ajiproximatc) 

Texas  (estimated) 


Total  of  States  and  Territories. 


TERRITORIES. 
Alaska 

Arizona  (official) , 

Colorado     '*     

Dakota        "    

Idaho  "     

Montana      "     , 

New  Mexico  (approximate) 

Utah  (cstiinalod)  

"Washington  (official) , 

Wyoming  "      


or,4,2ni 
1     4:^,.-,,jr,0 

1  ll-J.iilG 
I  7.-..OS0 
'      140, 424 

l,n.j7.'jsi; 

l.n.-.0,42>( 
i  l,711,'.t:)l 
!  (i7l,'..i;i 
'      107,'J()ii 

i  i.i.y-..i;st 

■  7(is,0{)2 
!      t;2s.279 

I  (;^7.oi'.) 
I  7t'.Mi:] 
l.-j:;i,o.;:{ 
i  17J.02:J 
I  7'.)l.-0.-, 
i  ],1S-_'.012 

j  r],R.>^o.'7.";.-, 

!  ;SoS 

:  'J/'O,;.!!.-, 

70.;,  70S 
1.1  Oil,  SOI 

;]15,0U8 

1.5%.318 

With  Va. 

775.020 

004,215 


907,140 

472,885 

552,208 

537,418 

125,015 

i;51,70«5 

180,005 

t  1,170,880 

l,0i;8,ir,o 

2,540,210 

I  1,1 78,  .380 

•     3(;2,.]07 

:  1,324,087 

;     730,118 

030,423 

08 1.500 

I  1,184.200 

'  1,457,351 

!  3;;5,ooo 
i     834,100 

1,700.000 
i  123.000 
1  44,080 
:  4,370,703 

1,041,000 

I      318,300 

00--..514 

2,075,408 

00,022 

I  3,475.000 

1     217.350 

720.000 

1,25*<.:{20 
330,5*^5 

1,200.007 
i  450,000 
I  1,055,200 
i     797,109 


37.790 

60,053 

170,214 

70,739 

12,834 

50,809 

40,571 

127,714 

317,741 

755,081 

511,020 

152,234 

107,580 

9,024 

1,004 

92,951 

342,350 

218,079 

28S,014 

42.885 

520,088 

70,159 

34,079 

400,111 

79,378    , 

Decreased,  i 

I    227,095 

i    332,791 

I      57,535 

I  "42,079' 

31,292 

148,525 

25,137 


270,100 
24.5,785 


II 
47 
10 
11 

35 
12 
23 
44 
70 

142 
14 
12 
3 
14 
45 
17 

100 

5 

43 

201 

600 
12 
8 

"'i'i' 

109 

"24" 

4 

13 
7 


30,230,400  ;38,215,231 


9.0.58 
30.700 
14,181 
14,098 
20.594 
91.898 
95,000 
23.'.t01 

9.118 


1.1 
4.7 
1.6 
1.1 
7.6 
3.6 
1.2 
2.3 
4.4 
7.6 
14.2 
1.4 
1.2 

f.« 

4.6 

1.7 

16.6 

.6 

4.3 

26.1 

50 

1.2 

.8 

'"{a 

'1*0.9 

"2.'4 
.4 
1.8 
.7 


8.6 


In  1800  we  had  in  tho  United  States  twelve  cities  contVming  50.000  inhabitnnta  and  upward  ; 
wc  now  have  twcntv-two,  on©-half  of  which  are  east  of  the  Alleghanics,  tho  other  half  west  of  them 


134  APPENDIX. 


CITY  PAEIvS. 


Although  St.  Louis  has  quite  a  number  of  small  parks  distributed  throughout 
her  corporate  limits,  which  are  highly  prized  by  her  citizens,  it  is  well  known 
that  she  has  no  Great  Park,  such  .is  i?  required  for  her  present  and  future 
growth.  Nor  is  it  possible  for  her  citizens  to  remain  much  longer  indifferent 
toward  this  important  matter.  At  this  eventful  period  of  her  history  the 
subject  of  pai-ks  is  paramount,  and,  whether  many  or  few,  the  enlightened 
sentiment  of  her  people  will  soon  demand  that  these  important  improvements 
be  made  commensurate  with  the  magnitude  and  character  of  the  city  itself. 

If  this  is  to  be  an  imperial  city — the  imperial  city  of  the  nation  and  of  the 
Avorld  —  its  foundations  should  be  laid  deep  and  broad  in  government,  in  com- 
merce, in  industry,  in  art,  in  culture,  and  in  such  improvements  for  beauty,  for 
health,  and  for  pleasure,  as  its  future  grandeur  and  greatness  will  demand.  No 
people  build  wisely  who  do  not  build  for  the  future.  It  is  the  sensuous,  the 
slothful,  and  the  ignorant  who  live  in  the  ever-present  time.  It  is  those  who 
have  grown  from  sensation  to  consciousness — those  who  realize  a  material 
growth  in  usefulness  on  this  side  of  the  grave — that  reach  beyond  the  life  of  a 
man,  even  to  remote  generations,  in  their  conceptions  and  works  of  improve- 
ment. It  is  such  that  make  their  earthly  homes  beautiful,  that  adorn  cities 
with  parks  and  gardens. 

It  is  a  gratifying  thought  that  St.  Louis  is  favored  with  such  men.  Mr.  Shaw 
has  already  proved  himself  to  be  a  man  of  more  than  ordinary  refinement  and 
public  spirit  in  the  founding  and  improving  of  his  beautiful  Botanical  Garden, 
for  which  the  good  people  of  St.  Louis  will  ever  bear  him  in  grateful  remem. 
brance,  and  testify  of  him  as  a  benefactor.  As  returning  springs  cause  the 
flowers  to  bloom,  will  his  memory  come  afresh  in  the  minds  of  this  people,  and 
their  hearts  Avill  be  made  glad  for  the  work  he  leaves  behind  him. 

SHAW'S  PAIIK. 

Not  only  has  he  improved  the  finest  garden  in  America,  but  also,  through  his 
foresight  and  liberality,  contributed  to  the  city,  ground  adjoining  his  garden  for 
a  fine  park,  which  is  now  under  way  of  being  improved,  and  before  many 
months  will  be  opened  to  the  citizens  of  St.  Louis  —  a  beautiful  park,  much 
finer  and  larger  than  any  the  city  now  has.  Although  this  park  is  well  situated, 
and  will  bo  as  a  flowery  mead  ia  a  fairy  land,  it  cannot  supply  the  future 
wants  of  the  city. 


13: 


LEFFIXG' WELL'S  PKOPOSKD  J'AKK. 

Kindred  to  Mr.  Shaw  in  his  conception  of  suitable  i)ark.s  lor  ^t.  Louis  is  Mr. 
Lofrin<:;vvclI,  Avhoso  correct  viowH  and  comprohcnsion  of  the  required  i)ark 
improvemeiit.s  are  entitled  to  the  hi^^liest  consideration  by  thiH  people.  In  fact 
Mr.  Lcllingwoll's  proposal  for  a  great  park  is  a  bold  concej^tion,  which  graspn 
the  subject  fully  and  truly  in  its  connection  with  the  present  and  future  ol 
St.  Louis.  The  project  is  only  equaled  in  its  ma,i,'nitudo  by  the  possible  great- 
ness of  the  city  which  it  is  designed  to  adorn.  It  is  well  that  St.  Louis  should 
have  the  greatest  and  finest  park  on  the  continent,  destined  as  she  is  to  be 
the  greatest  city. 

Mr.  LoflingwoH's  proposed  park  is  situated  about  four  miles  from  the  Court 
IIouso,  and  immediately  west  from  the  central  portion  of  the  citj*.  It  will 
contain  3,000  acres,  is  three  miles  long,  east  and  west,  and  about  one  mile  and 
ft  half  wide.  It  will  bo  bisected  just  cast  of  its  center  by  a  #ow  and  maf^-nill- 
cent  avenue,  which  is  also  proposed  by  Mr.  LoHlngwoll,  and  is  designed  to  bo 
uOO  feet  wide,  and  encircle  the  entire  city,  touching  the  river  above  and  below, 
and  to  bo  improved  in  the  most  tasteful  manner  and  supplied  with  .«team 
transportation. 

The  park  euibracos  a  district  of  country  most  admirably  adapted  for  beauty 
and  variet}'.  In  fact,  nothing  can  surpass  it.  It  can  easily  be  supplied,  in  an\- 
part,  with  good  water ;  the  IJiver  Des  Peres  meanders  through  it  for  a  distancg 
of  four  or  five  miles,  giving  a  picturesque  and  varied  view.  Original  limber, 
consi-ting  of  all  our  varieties  of  oak,  elm,  maple,  ash,  hickory,  black  and  white 
walnut,  hackberry,  and  other  kinds  common  to  this  region  of  country-,  is  etlll 
in  its  native  condition  growing  on  many  parts  of  this  proposed  park. 

Our  country  has  at  no  previous  time  presented  so  grand  a  sehomo  for  a  ])ark 
as  this  under  consideration,  and  it  is  a  gratifying  thought  to  know  that  the 
project  meets  the  liearty  approval  of  the  people  of  f?t.  Louis.  How  could  thcv 
decide  otherwise,  when  the  park  is  wanted  and  it  can  be  had  at  a  small  expense  ? 
Let  the  city  secure  it  at  the  earliest  moment,  and  thus  will  bo  added  another 
trophy  to  her  future  honor  and  greatness;  and  millions  in  after  times,  who  will 
yet  walk  these  streets  in  more  perfect  life,  will  bless  the  momor}-  of  the  man 
who  conceived  this  great  project,  and  praises  will  bo  given  to  those  whoso 
generous  efforts  mould  it  into  being  and  fashion  it  well.  It  will  be  holy  ground, 
where  the  true-hearted,  and  those  that  love  their  fellows,  will  delight  to  tread. 
It  will  be  enchanted  ground,  where  genius  can  draw  fresh  truths  from  the 
mysterious  rcahns  of  inspiration. 

It  will  be  classic  ground,  where  palatial  edifices  of  royal  structure  wil) 
invito  the  sago,  the  pool,  and  the  orator  to  higher  lields  of  intrllictual  boaut  v 
and  culture. 

It  will  be  a  park  wiio-o  miigniliccnco  arid  munifii-enco  wiii  bo  ueo  i)  .•i.i,  n:ii 
alike  to  all ;  the  poor  will  lind  it  alike  their  field  of  pleasure  as  well  as  the 


136  [APPENDIX. 

rich.     There  will  they  fiixl    God  equally  bountiful  to  them,   na   do  those  of 
wealth  and  position. 

To  St.  Louis  it  will  bo  more  famed  than  were  the  classic  groves  of  Orontea, 
the  forests  of  the  Druidical  oaks,  or  the  beautiful  valley  of  Easselas.  Then  in 
view  of  the  want  and  the  great  character  of  such  a  park,  let  the  determination 
of  our  people  be  as  that  of  one  earnest  man  to  secure  it  for  the  future  great  city 
of  the  world. 


EEEATA. 

Page  11,  5th  line  from  top,  for  "belt  of,"  read  "or." 
Page  11,  3d  line  from  bottom,  for  "unattainable  to,"  read  "in." 
Page  51,  in  xote,  for  "State  born  under  the  influence,"  read  "auspices." 
Page  110,  IGth  line  of  Poetry  on  America,  for  "immoral"  read  "immortal-.' 


